


Will You Catch Me? (If I Fall...)

by WishStone



Category: Persona 4
Genre: F/M, Falling In Love, friends being friends, kannao - Freeform, ski trip
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-09-11
Updated: 2017-10-15
Packaged: 2018-08-14 13:28:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 35,061
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8015746
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WishStone/pseuds/WishStone
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This is a problem the junior detective had hoped to avoid altogether - facing off with one Kanji Tatsumi during the ski trip that was planned to spend some more time with Yu-senpai before he left. All of this wouldn't be a huge problem, if not for the indisputable fact that Kanji-kun had already announced he would show her how to ski - or with her knowledge that he was interested in her. Compounded was all of this by the uneasy feeling she got whenever she contemplated this situation. Was she... was she falling for him?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Before the outing

February 2nd, 2011.

 

Naoto Shirogane; hailed as a Wunderkind; leading the three classes of the Yasogami first year as highest-scoring; the protégée of the esteemed Shirogane the Elder, the third in the line of the Shirogane; the Detective Prince; the one called in to assist in the investigation of cases, which had professional police officers stumped. That Naoto Shirogane.

This same Naoto Shirogane, who sat in her apartment now. Expression blank, highlighting pen forgotten between her slack fingers, staring off into the distance. All because she spotted a tiny comic of a bunny face scribbled in the margin of her notes. Just a tiny cartoon bunny face, really, along with the speech bubble saying ‘ _Thanks for your help_ ’. Kanji Tatsumi had drawn in there, only two weeks ago. They had studied together at Junes and Naoto had found an easier way for him to remember the dates of a crucial war during the Kyoto era. She had drawn it into the margins of his books; and he snuck her book and drew the bunny in there.

She had not intended to think on this. She really, really had not. She had only wanted to review her notes for the upcoming tests, as another gruelling week of back-to-back exams was before her. She had only wanted to confirm to herself what she already knew, cemented as facts, ready to reproduce to score points in an oddly arbitrary system of question-and-answer. She knew that little of this would be retained for longer periods of time. And she knew these tests would not assist her in her chosen profession. But she would get the good grades needed to show her worth.

 _That is_ , she told herself, looking back at the bunny, _if I manage to banish Kanji Tatsumi from my mind for just a few more days._

She had reluctantly agreed to Rise talking her into the Ski trip with the others. It was, after all, possibly the last chance to spend time with Yu-senpai. But not only did she not know the first thing about skiing, she had pretty much already been wrapped up like a present and handed to Kanji-kun by Rise-san. The moment she admitted to not being able to or know how to ski; the moment Kanji said it was easy and he could teach her, that was when her doom had been spelled out to her in point 80 font.

Not because she feared making an utter fool of herself, though that was a factor.

Also not because she feared the endless teasing from Rise-san or their senpai, although that, too, was likely to happen.

And absolutely not because she did not wish to spend time with her newfound friends, even though the stay at the hot springs should have scared her away from socialising forever.

No, all of these fairly small reasons were not the issue here.

She snapped back to her living room, tsk’ed, and pushed the cap back onto her marker, snapping it shut. No work was getting down tonight, she might as well just go, shower, fix herself some tea and maybe unwind with a good book. Maybe even allow herself some of the… well… some of the experiments in chocolate she had created. Not that she would ever gift chocolate. Not directly. Not if she could…

This was not going anywhere.

Naoto got up, walked into the tiny bathroom in her Inaba apartment and started to strip off her clothing. Putting everything into the laundry basket to wash later, Naoto turned on the western-style shower before stepping in. She allowed steam to build up as she turned to the sink to brush her teeth. She rubbed her hand through her hair while she brushed, trying to recall some of the previously reviewed facts.

She even managed to stay in that subject while she enjoyed the hot shower, feeling some tension being pulled from her with the hot cascade down her back.

As she started to towel herself off, however...

As she wrapped herself in her towel, for a few fleeting moments she missed the soft, warmed towel the Amagi Inn provided to gusts at the hot springs. And somehow from there, her mind went straight to the boys walking in on them. And to Kanji Tatsumi freezing as he noticed them. As such as she was in shock and upset at the time, she could not help watching the boy. He… well. He is really rather fit. For a boy his age he is extremely well built. And it was not just his physical traits she noticed. He seemed shy, looking away from the girls, keeping his gaze between the floor and sliding towards her.

She sighed and pulled on her pyjamas.

The tea was made swiftly, she even lit a candle, unscented of course, just for the ambience, you see… though her thoughts remained stuck on Kanji Tatsumi.

The worst had possibly been Rise a few days ago. When she had caught Naoto observing Kanji during the lunch break that day, she had teased her and Naoto may have inadvertently admitted that she finds herself spending a frustratingly large amount of time observing the boy and grotesquely frequent, at that. In doing so, she had triggered the idol into squeeing in delight and dragging her away from the others.

She grunted as she drank deeply from her tea, remembering the conversation.

_“Oh-my-GOD! Have you told Kanji-kun?!”_

_“Told him what, Rise-.san?”_

_“About your crush! He would absolutely DIE if you told him!”_

_“Wh-WHAT?! I-I-I have no… this is not what you think! Not at all! I do not … do not harbour any feelings for him one way or the other!”_

_“U-huh, suuuure you don’t! Silly Naoto, just tell him! Trust me, he’s been waiting to hear that! You simply have no idea how much he wants you to like him, because-“_

And there they were interrupted. Why Kanji Tatsumi would believe her expressing an interest in him would be regarded so positively, she could not understand.

No, that, too, was false.

She absolutely understood.

The boy was taken with her. It had taken some time to put the pieces together, but how he behaved around her in the last three months made his …. his… well, his _interest_ stand out.

She tucked her legs up and tried to curl into a tiny ball.

This still was not entirely the problem.

The problem was… she found herself on a very dangerous brink. A brink of attraction to him. The wrong move and her long-held belief that romantic entanglements were a waste of time might get overthrown. The unknown stood before her, and it was as if Kanji Tatsumi already had stepped forward, holding his hand out to her.

Naoto put her cup down and leaned her head on her knees, wrapping both of her arms around her knees and head, trying to shut away the outside world.

“No. No, I cannot fall … f-fall in love,” she said out loud, if only to hear the words spoken so they would become a reality. “I have no time and no interest and no desire to find myself falling in love with anyone. And least of them all with … with …” Her hands hugged herself tighter. “Kanji-kun.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so I have had this plot bunny for ages and ages and I finally commissioned a drawing by the masterfully talented KrisRix based on this story. I am publishing it so we can cross-link our works. (Thanks again, Kris, oh gods, I love it so much!)  
> For the interested: [ Kris' piece.](http://krisrix.tumblr.com/post/150283866332/commission-for-wishstonedragon-as-a-tie-in)


	2. Drivin' each other crazy

Suppressing a groan, Naoto sighed. “If the main requirement for the clothing during this outing is warmth, then my selection should be more than sufficient, Rise-san.”

“Well, _ye-hes_ ,” the idol whined, “but this isn’t exactly _cute_ , you know?”

The blue-haired girl frowned and looked over the outfit she had spread out over her bed. The pants were perfectly sensible; a water-resistant, thick synthetic weave. She had made sure the legs would reach down over her ankles and could be secured tightly, so no snow could push up, in case she was to step into deeper drifts. The jacket was a thick, down-filled material. It had pockets secured by both zippers, Velcro and overlapping cloth – losing anything from them was as unlikely as getting snow into the pocket. The coat had a thick hood, which could be stowed into the collar and hidden in a zippered pocket. She had even made a point to make sure the gloves she had bought were not of the same, even blue but instead in a dark royal purple. Picking up the snow goggles she said, “I am not certain that ‘cute’ is the main thing to look out for in all of this. This clothing is sensible. I will not simply go out and change it, one day before the trip.”

Rise flopped onto the bed and pulled up her legs. “Naoto, you are as dense as Moronji at times.”

“I beg your pardon?”

“I mean, look!” The younger girl pulled herself up on her knees, looking into her friend's’ eyes. “We are going on a ski trip with some pretty hot boys! We should totally tease them, while we’re at it!”

The junior Shirogane sighed and rubbed her forehead. “Rise-san…”

“No, really! Just think of how much you and I could tag-team to make Kanji-kun all flustered!”

While her hand hid half of her face, one angry eye flicked to Rise. Glowering, Naoto stated, “I would not begin to know how to _tease_. Never mind that I am certain that Tatsumi-kun would prefer to enjoy himself. Why is it half of your plans for any team outings are always to make part of the group uneasy with your presence?”

“Because it is _fun_ , Naoto! Also, I have not forgiven Kanji for not getting a nosebleed when he saw me in a bikini this summer.”

The hand over Naoto’s face sank and her eyes narrowed slightly before she caught herself. “Why would he see you-“

“Oh, right. You weren’t with us at the beach that day. Man, we wasted a lot of time, not making friends with you sooner.” The idol smiled fondly at her friend. “But it’s all good, you’ll be having fun with us this time around!”

“Yes. Well.” Naoto tucked her cap down and resumed packing. As she was about to add the next timed, Rise practically threw herself between Naoto and her backpack. “What is it _now?_ ”

“No way! You’re not going to take books with you! Or do you need to read before bed because you can’t sleep without that?”

“No, these are not for my nightly routine. It is more a matter of having something to do. While everyone else is busy, I mean.” _While everyone will be outside, enjoying winter sports…_

“Hmmm. But do you really need two books? You won’t read that much, I’m sure.”

Naoto knew she already had some case files from a cold case a private party had sent to the Shirogane estate in her bags. Maybe Rise was right, and only one book could suffice, combined with being able to do some paperwork. She nodded and placed one of the books back onto her nightstand.

Rise’s dramatic celebration of the fact was categorically not necessary.

Naoto looked around her bedroom, trying hard to ignore Rise bouncing on her bed. Apparently having a western-style bed was something Rise enjoyed in hotels, but not at home. As such, she made her friends bedsprings suffer whenever she could.

She picked up the notes she had written to prepare for her trip. While it only was one weekend, she disliked the idea of not having thought through everything needed in advance. A certain item on her list caught her attention; something that Kanji had mentioned several times now.

“I heard Tatsumi-kun spent considerable thought on what snacks he would bring,” Naoto said, trying to be casual. “What special items are you going to bring, Rise-san?”

“Ooh~, so you are starting to pay more attention to what Kanji-kun is saying?”

“What? No! It is…” She flinched under the knowing gaze of her friend. “You misunderstand, Rise-san. It is more a matter of assuring I am bringing useful items, just as everyone else is. This is why I asked what _you_ are bringing.”

“Oh, right.” Rise put a thoughtful finger to her lips. “Well, I need to bring my basic make-up, but I think you’re not going to bother with that, are you?” She tittered at Naoto’s uneasy shifting. “I’ll get you to embrace how pretty you’d be with some make-up sooner or later. But, hmm, I am just thinking of bringing some snacks to share in the evening. You know, cookies, maybe something salty, just small things. The place I got us has a kitchen and it’s pretty much beside the hotel which has a restaurant. We don’t need to bring all our food like our senpai we did for the field trip.”

Naoto smiled, closing her eyes. “Another execution I was no part of.”

“Oh, I wasn’t there, either, but Chie-senpai and Yukiko-senpai told me how things went. Next year we’re going to go out as well, it’s a Yaso High tradition!”

“Wonderful,” the detective commented drily.

“Come now, it’ll be great! We will do what our senpai did and cook for the boys! I am sure Naoki-kun and Kanji-kun would totally love my cooking!” She did not see the sceptical look Naoto shot her before adding another two pairs of socks to her backpack. “But, for this, no need. We can totally just pack snacks and cook once we get there!”

“As you say, Rise-san. I will bring some ‘nibbles’ as well then. Do you happen to know what everyone likes?”

“Well, I know _Moronji_ likes animal crackers.” She paused, waiting for the heated glare Naoto shot her and fell over on the bed, laughing. Once she regained her composure, she leaned up and continued, “Oh, and Chie-senpai found this German snack that tastes like bacon, I think she is bringing that.”

“Of course.”

“Everyone else… I don’t actually know. But I am sure anything we bring would be fine!”

The blunette nodded and checked how much space she had in her bag after packing. “Well, I think I will bring some drinks then. I have a feeling most of the group will be pre-occupied with just foods-“

“Oh, no need for that, that’s way too heavy to carry, we can get that out by our hurt. Bring something you enjoy, Naoto-kun! It will be okay.”

She hesitated. “Some tea, maybe?”

“Well, if you want, sure, but don’t lug about anything too heavy, okay? Promise?” The idol’s phone suddenly picked up a fast piano piece and she fished it out of her pocket, looking down. “Oh no, it’s my grandmother! Look at the time!” She answered the phone with a wince and excused herself, dashing to the hallway of Naoto’s small apartment.

She fondly smiled after her friend. As annoyed as she felt about the idol at times, some things did not change around her, like her poor time management. She had once explained this came from being way too used to having a manager for so long, who would keep her time tables and ensure she would be punctual for her appointments.

By the time she followed the bubbly teen, still holding a sweater she meant to pack, she had already put on her boots and coat and was about to dash. “No, grandma, no, I am so sorry, I was just hanging out with- Oh!” She threw herself at Naoto, still on the phone, hugging her tightly. “I’ll see you tomorrow, Naoto-kun! Gotta run! What?” She was already on her phone conversation again. “No, I wasn’t hanging out with boys late! You _know_ Naoto-kun! The detective? Yes, the girl I … Yes!”

Naoto felt like stepping in and leaned closer to her friends’ phone. Without her usual pitch drop, she said in a slightly softer voice than normal, “Good evening, Marukyu-san. I am so sorry for keeping Rise-san late, she was helping me with something.”

Rise blew her a kiss. “Yes, that was her. Yes! Yes, yes, I am running! Later, Naoto~!” The door fell shut behind her friend.

The junior Shirogane smiled at the door for a moment, then turned to get dressed herself. In her mind was a plan concerning which snacks she would buy to be ready for the trip.

 

* * *

 

A few days later found the teens at the central bus station in Okina. Most of them had arrived in small groups – except for Naoto. She had taken an earlier train and waited at the bus central for everyone to arrive. They were running late and Naoto spent a considerable amount of time on her phone, texting with her friends to ensure they would all make it in time.

That is, until Rise-san sent her a somewhat annoyed-sounding message that, yes, everyone was on the train and, no, she wasn’t worried they would make it in time.

Naoto felt annoyed that her friends would chose to cut their arrival so close to departure. Whenever she travelled, she made a point of planning to arrive an hour early. This prevented problems during transport and allowed here to read up on a case file, should she arrive with time to spare.

Then again, maybe her habits appeared overly elaborate and just as annoying to her more easy-going friends.

Thankfully, everyone arrived well within time and she exchanged hugs with Rise by the time their bus pulled up and opened the luggage compartments. After everyone had stowed away their bags, the friends filed into the bus that would take them into the mountains. Yu and Yosuke entered first and Naoto watched Kanji trudge along behind them. As she turned to enter, Teddie shoved right past her yelling, “Coming through! I’m sitting with sensei!”

Naoto watched him rush in and sighed. She did enjoy spending time with her friends, but some had… _quirks_ that she simply was not too fond of.

Another such quirk was Rise’s insistence of physical contact. She staggered as her friend piled in on her from behind. “Naoto-ku~n! We’re finally leaving!”

“Yes, we’re just about to be on our way,” Naoto said softly, trying to keep her balance. She saw her female senpai and nodded a greeting to them as well.

“Yo, Naoto-kun!” Chie gave her a huge smile. “Are you rested up? We will hit the hills the second the bus stops, you know!”

“Well, soon after, at least. Good morning, Naoto-kun,” Yukiko added.

Before the blue-haired girl could wish her senpai a good morning, she was being dragged along by her arm. “We need to get moving, the guys will have taken the best seats already,” Rise whined, dragging Naoto along. “I don’t wanna sit with some strangers!”

“I assure you, Rise-san, your haste is misplaced. The bus is not yet due to leave and it appears that it will not be filled to capacity, either.”

When they entered, Teddie jumped up in the very back of the bus, waving wildly. “Nao-chan! Rise-chan!” He bounced, getting a glare from Kanji. “We’re back here!”

Rise waved and rushed up the aisle, all the while tugging Naoto along by her hand. The girl kept her other hand on the rim of her cap, trying to hide the furious blush at the public display. “Please, everyone, you are being too loud, we are disturbing the other passengers,” she managed to say when they got to the group.

 “I want to sit between all the beautiful ladies today!” Teddie announced loudly, entirely ignoring her request. Naoto winced.

Kanji, who had so far sat glowering in the far right corner without much comment, now grabbed the shorter blonde and pulled him roughly down beside him. “Will ya just shut yer trap already? Yer botherin’ people and yer upsettin’ Naoto, damnit!”

The boy-shadow struggled, then turned sparkly eyes on the young tailor. “Kanji-chan! Am I making your blood boil like I did that night at the club again?”

The tall teen growled, cracking his knuckles.

“I’d say”, Yosuke said, “you are and you’re about to feel his passionate fury all over if you don’t stop, Teddie.”

Naoto turned her head. She had been so occupied by watching Kanji since she entered the bus, that she had barely even paid attention to anyone else. While Rise shoved her in the seat right in front of Kanji, she had barely a moment’s time to notice Yu tucked on the opposite far end corner, flanked directly by his partner Yosuke. Chie and Yukiko very naturally gravitated towards them, sitting with their classmates.

She was nervous. Sitting right behind her was Kanji and he had already shown that he was paying attention to her well-being again. Always thoughtful, always there to care for her.

 _But is that enough, Shirogane?_ She had spent considerable amounts of time in the past weeks to investigate the matter of teenage crushes and general attraction in both romantic and physical matters.

All things considered, Kanji Tatsumi would speak to many of the markers that especially young females would gravitate towards. He was tall, well-muscled, had a pleasant voice and a very caring nature – and yet had a very powerful streak that easily showed off his could be dominant if needed. Being interested in some manner or another was pure biology. Maybe not something she could fight, she thought with a sigh, but something that needed to be taken into consideration. If her attraction to Kanji Tatsumi simply was based on her inability to ignore baser instincts, then that alone would show her that she did not follow this matter with the needed serious understanding of a romantic entanglement.

She turned her head as she felt someone grab her arm from the right. Rise, sitting beside her, gave her a worried look. “Are you feeling okay, Naoto?” She leaned closer and added softly, “If you need a painkiller or something…”

“N-No, thank you for your concern. I was… lost in thought.”

The idol pouted. “If you are thinking about work, I will punch your arm.”

“Yes,” Naoto quickly sighed, thankful for the out, “that is exactly it. I am sorry, I just do not know how to relax.”

She felt her arm being gently buffeted by her friend, who none the less gave her a warm-hearted smile. “You really should let go of that, at least while we are out, okay?”

The junior Shirogane nodded and gazed past the idol when she heard Chie speak up.

“I dunno, I’ve not thought much about what I want to do this weekend. I'm thinking of snowboarding, too. I never tried it and it absolutely looks like fun! How about you, Naoto-kun?”

She shifted in her seat. “I have… never actually never before skied in my life.”

Yukiko turned to her and looked across the aisle. “Is that so? That is kind of unexpected.”

“What would be so strange about my inability to ski, Yukiko-senpai?”

It was Chie who answered. “Well, you know… How you are this cool detective and all. I would never have thought there is anything you cannot do.”

“Chasing down evidence rarely happens on snowy slopes, senpai,” she said mildly, closing her eyes with an amused smile. Her smile vanished. “However. I do feel somewhat apprehensive about the upcoming weekend.”

“Naoto-kun, you'll be just fine. Kanji-kun’ll show you how it's done!” Rise chuckled at her side, giving her a large wink.

There was a thump from behind her and the boy attempted to reply a few times before he found his voice. “W-W-What the...?! H-Hey, Rise, what the hell are you sayin'?!”

Rise hopped up and spun around, her knees now on the seat as she leaned towards Teddie and Kanji. “You know, on the bunny hill! You would be an excellent teacher! I mean, you told me how you and your father used to go ski, I am sure you know how to show Naoto-kun how it’s done.”

“B-Bunny hill,” he stuttered to himself. He went quiet, then jerked up his head, staring first at Naoto, then Rise with wide eyes. “Well... I guess that's fine. If, y’know, if tha’s cool with Naoto and all.”

Cursing the surge of lightness she felt in her chest, Naoto stood to turn and smiled at the boy. “Thank you, Tatsumi-kun. That would be much appreciated.” She sat again, before she could embarrass herself by watching him too long.

The moment her back was turned, she exploded into relief she faced the other direction. Teddie squeaked excitedly, “From first base to second base to home plate, eh, Kanji-chan?”

“The hell?!”

“Geez, Teddie, do you even know the nonsense you’re saying?” Rise sighed deeply. “And you’re ruining the moment for them, too, you jerk.”

“W-What moment?” Naoto added, her voice tilting dangerously towards feminine tones.

But Teddie seemed to not be dissuaded by anything his friends said. “You're such a pervert, Kanji-chan!

“It's your own stupid mind that's perverted, damnit! I-I simply offered ta help Naoto!”

“Well, would you help me?”

“…eer…”

Naoto tugged her can down tightly. “If you require assistance as well, Teddie-kun, I am sure we could come to an agreement.”

“But-“ Kanji started

“Hey, Teddie,” Chie spoke up from the other side, “I thought you said you’re a champion skier already!” Naoto send a silent, thankful glance at her senpai.

“Well, _ye-hes_ , but if I want to score with Nao-chan, I need to somehow-“ He could not finish the sentence, as the three kohai exploded around him.

 “What are you talking about, Naoto isn’t interested in you!”

“I-I never meant to infer any interest in you, Teddie-kun!”

“Who the hell said anything about scoring with Naoto?! I’ll pound some sense into you!”

Teddie jumped up and tried to throw himself on Yukiko’s lap. “Oh no, Kanji-chan is mad, Yuki-chan, Chie-chan, save me!”

He did not get far. Yosuke grabbed him by the scruff and shoved him back down into the seat beside Kanji, who immediately locked his arms around the small boy. “Sit down, _bear_ , and stop bothering the girls. If you keep that up, Kanji and Chie will kick your ass and I’ll just sit back and film it.”

“Thanks, Yosuke,” Chie said, “it’s nice of you to talk sense once in a while.”

“Wait, what?” His anger quickly changed targets. Trying to keep the moment light, he cleared his throat and smoothed his features. "I've just defended my ladies' innocence and virtue, how about you thank your valiant knight?"

Yukiko cocked an eyebrow at Chie, who in turn now jumped up to look over the back of her seat. “I was giving you a compliment, you moron!”

“Wow, amazing compliment, wrapped up and delivered in an insult!”

“WHAT?! Listen, you-!”

Naoto turned her head as Rise began to softly laugh beside her. The situation was not all that comical to her, she disliked it when her friends argued – even if she had to admit that it seemed to happen more frequently between Chie and Yosuke. The idol gave her a huge smile, winked, and turned back to watch. By the time Naoto turned her head back, oddly, the argument had died down already.

“So, yeah, if you think snowboards, I can totally help you. I’ve been snowboarding a fair bit before I moved to Inaba.”

“Cool! I tried skiing before, Snowboarding can’t be all that different.”

“Well, actually…”

Rise chuckled softly. “Man, about time those two start...” she said quietly.

Naoto leaned past her friend, trying to see what she had missed. She gave the idol a confused look. “Start what?” she whispered in return.

“Getting themselves sorted.”

“I’m afraid I don’t follow…”

The girl rolled her eyes and leaned into Naoto, whispering at her. “Oh come, Naoto-kun, I know you and your trained detective eyes can see it, too! They are _so_ into one another!”

The junior Shirogane raised an eyebrow and turned her attention to her senpai once more. Yosuke had eagerly leaned forward. His pupils seemed a bit dilated as he regarded Chie. His arms rested open and he seemed to welcome her attention. Letting her eyes drift to her female senpai once more, Chie leaned against the back of her seat, but her arms were crossed on front of her, resting against the back. Naoto gave a small nod into her direction. “Him, yes, I am able to discern, but her?”

“She suggested it; said she'll do snowboarding.”

“Therefore...?”

The idol rolled her eyes and turned to stare at the junior detective. “She said she’ll do snowboarding _after_ hearing Hanamura will be doing that. She wants him to teach her, see?”

“That is meaningful… why?”

The stare gained intensity. “ _Private lessons_ , detective!”

“Oh.” Her eyes darted to the gap between their seats, catching Kanji staring out the window.

“And _private lessons_ are why you should ask _someone_ , too. I can’t, I'm a novice, too and Senpai will show me.” She happily sighed.

Naoto grabbed her cap and gave it a sharp tug, looking away again. “M-Maybe Yukiko-senpai-“

“-or Kanji~”

Naoto shot her a look and settled back into her seat, trying her best to ignore the gleeful giggle beside her. It was uncalled for and wholly not what had been on her mind. Well. Maybe a bit. But it wasn’t as if Kanji Tatsumi occupied her every living moment.

She had done well in her tests. She was taking care of her small household without interruptions. She had plenty of time she spent with other matters than him.

As she watched the snow fall outside the windows, she did have to admit there was plenty of times when he _did_ occupy her mind, and that in itself was a problem which would make this trip somewhat less comfortable.

If it had been entirely her choice, she would have enjoyed packing reading material and simply not spending time with the others… but… T _hey are my friends. I_ enjoy _time spent with them and I am looking forward to my interactions with all of them. Even if…_

Even if she, forthrightly, _particularly_ looked forward to the idea of spending time with one specific young tailor.

It really was ridiculous. This… this _crush_ , as the common term for a hot, romantic fascination went. She was certain she had not completely fallen in love. She just had to repeat reminding herself of that fact. At best, she was open to the idea of maybe exploring the options this attraction held – which in itself felt dangerous. Not because she feared the boy. No one in their right mind would fear him, unless they had done something to upset him profoundly. No, the idea to engage into a direction she had never plotted for herself in life, that was the problem here.

Beside her Rise suddenly squeaked pleased and for the fraction of a second she feared the idol had somehow read her mind.

Their senpai had all gotten up and leaned towards them, looking out of the same window. Yukiko seemed excited when she said, “Oh, is it this place we're pulling up to now?”

Chie nearly climbed into Rise’s lap at this point. “Wow! So this is it?”

But the excitement of her friends did not fall in line with the anxious gaze Naoto let run up the mountains they saw through the window outside. “This is... quite high, isn't it? And steep...”

Rise chuckled and snuggled into her side. “Don't worry, Naoto-kun, you'll learn in no time!”

“Y-Yeah. I’ll get you on those skis in no time flat, right?”

She turned her head to see Kanji give her an embarrassed smile. “Thank you, Tatsumi-kun. Really. I will be counting on your help.”

“H-Hell yeah!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here we go!  
> As I have previously been asked: No, this story is a stand-alone and it does not tie into The Distance Formula - DF will have the ski trip, however, it will go a different direction. 
> 
> Enjoy! I'll be staying with this story over the winter break.


	3. Sweaters and Hats

Their hut was actually not as secluded as Naoto had imagined it to be. Indeed, the entire small town was much larger than she had thought it would be. Rows and rows of small huts lined the streets and hills. That this village was heavily invested into tourism wasn’t a guess at this point; it was proven by having more lodgings than people apparently living here. Still, the streets were packed and the slops dotted with colourfully-dressed winter sport enthusiasts.

After getting off their bus with their packs and checking in at a central point in one of the larger hotels, their group was taken via a small horse-pulled sled to one of the more removed huts along the slopes of the mountain. Naoto was glad Yu had the foresight to remind everyone to put on warm clothing from their packs before embarking to the sled. Even with the blankets they pulled over their legs, the air was very crisp.

Chie, Yukiko and Yu sat quietly in the front, chatting. Naoto could barely see them past Yosuke, Teddie and Kanji in the middle. Rise, who sat beside her in the back, could barely contain her excitement over their coming two days out here. She was trying to point out every single one of the possible attractions and outings their group could do at once. Her voice, often already pretty high, seemed to try to climb into new heights as she worked herself up more and more. But if the idol was excited, the resident boy-shadow was simply beside himself. He ended up pinned down between Yosuke and Kanji. Each of the boys was holding him down so he wouldn’t throw himself - or others - off the side of the sled. In case of the young tailor, a copious amount of threats and swearing was involved.

But Naoto smiled at his back regardless. Yes, he has rough edges, but they made him who he is. His charm did not spring from his behaviour, but it absolutely was linked to the mix of shy approaches and rough rejections.

She was too slow to catch her fond reaction and it lingered longer than it normally would have. Kanji turned, a question on his lips, and froze as he found the usually stoic girl smiling at him gently. “Wh-Wh-Whacha lookin’ at me like that for?!”

She lifted a gloved hand to her lips to hide her amusement. “My apologies, Tatsumi-kun. I am simply grateful you are here to ensure Teddie will not have an unfortunate incident,” she smoothly lied.

“Oh… ah-I-I see… ‘s no problem, really.” Bashfully, he lowered his eyes. As Naoto watched, his face became a puzzled frown and he looked back up. “Where’s your hat, Naoto?”

“My hat? Oh! I have a cowl on my jacket.” She flipped it up to show, but the wind carried it back down at once. “I’ll need to pull the drawstrings close before I set out on the slopes…”

Kanji narrowed his eyes, about to say something else, when the sled slowed down and Teddie wrested free from his grip. “I CALL TOP BUNK!” he shouted and jumped off, trying to scramble to the nearest hut before anyone else even got up and out from under the blankets over their legs.

Naoto supressed another huge smile when she overheard Kanji muttering threats of simply breaking Teddies’ legs to make sure he cannot run off any longer.

As Naoto grabbed her pack, Rise leaned closer and whispered “He can be so cute, right?”

The junior detective was prepared and had indeed expected this comment. “Yes, I agree. Sometimes Teddie really does appear as such.” She walked by the idol, hiding her smile at the rare victory she scored.

Thankfully, her friend was already distracted by Yu, throwing all her charms at him as they walked side-by-side to the hut.

By the time Naoto entered and had removed her heavy boots, Yosuke fielded a very upset Teddie who had, apparently, been looking forward to bunk beds which no one but he himself had claimed would be here. Kanji, shaking his head, simply tossed his bags into one of the rooms and hunkered down on a couch. “Yer gonna change, ya stupid bear, or what? I thought we’d be going out once we get here.”

The junior Shirogane, finding the suggestion the most sensible approach, went to the room she and Rise would share to stow her things away. She also readied her clothing for when they would return, so she could quickly change into warm, dry clothing. The reading she had done before the trip suggested that even good skiers got wet and cold, so being prepared as a beginner was likely to be crucial.

However, after about a minute of digging, she still could not find the extra sweater she had brought. Her twin-tailed friend poked her head into the room and asked what was keeping her before walking in. Moments later, Kanji also appeared at the door, peeking in hesitantly. “Somethin’ wrong, you two?”

Frowning at the unpacked piles before her, she pushed her cap up a bit higher. “I cannot seem to locate the sweater I had packed to keep here at the lodge so it would stay dry.”

Twin-tails bounce into her field of vision as Rise hopped beside her, looking over the stacks of items on her bed. “That can’t be. You must have packed it. I mean, you wrote down everything you needed and I know I saw you hold it in your hand.”

“Hm.” Naoto crossed her arms, trying to think back to the day she spent preparing. She was talking to Rise while packing, going over the list she had made. They discussed packing snacks and tea – which were on one end of the bed now – and then her Marukyu-san had called… “Oh. I remember.” She sighed. “Your grandmother called and I held the sweater in my hand. You left and then I prepared to go shopping. I must have left it in the living room by mistake.”

“Oh no!” Rise sadly looked at the contents piled on the bed before jumping up with a much happier expression. “But, wait, I think we can buy another one in the gift shop – they are bound to have something there, right?”

“No.” Naoto shook her head at the idea. “I do not need another sweater. I prefer to not clutter up my home too much and I dislike being wasteful.” She shrugged. “This will be tolerable. If my sweater does get wet, I can simply use a blanket when we return to the lodge.”

There was a thoughtful, low hum from the doorway and she turned to see Kanji run a hand through his short, bleached hair. “Well, your stuff is going to get wet, Naoto. Not sayin’ that I think you’ll suck at this or anythin’, but… Yer a beginner, you’ll fall and snow will get on your stuff or down yer neck and things, y’know?”

She nodded. “Yes, I had assumed as much. But it will be all right. Like I said, I have a blanket here. And there is the fireplace, too.” When he remained looking thoughtful, she gave him a small smile. “I will not be in any trouble due to this, Tatsumi-kun.”

His frown deepened and then reached to grab the neck of his sweater and pulled it off, showing his long-sleeved dark grey shirt underneath. He gave the sweater an approximate fold and held it out, looking away from both girls. “H-Here.”

Naoto looked at Rise, regretted it for the smirk she saw, and turned to look at Kanji. “Pardon?”

The boy scratched his neck with one hand, holding the sweater out further towards her. “Take it. I get warm real easy, chances are I’ll just take this off after ten minutes of sittin’ around anyhow. Y-Y’can use this. B-Because I don’t really need it. Okay?”

“I am not sure I can accept your clothes-“

“Why?!” he blustered.

“Tatsumi-kun…” Naoto started gently, “they will look comically large on me.” _That and I am not sure I could stand Rise looking at me like that for another two minutes._

He deflated and Naoto realise her denial of his offer had upset him. Before she could fall over herself with assurances and an apology, however, he just exhaled softly. “Oh… But… Th-That’s okay. You’ll look c-cu… erm.” A spectacular blush crept up his neck, one that the Junior Shirogane was sure she mirrored. Having the Idol poorly hiding a laughing fit beside her did not help. “It’s fine! Just take the damn thing already!”

Clearly her throat without being able to dislodge her smirk, Rise thought she needed to assist. “Think of it as going for the oversized-look, Naoto, you’ll look very chic!“

“If you think so…” She reached out and fought her hands from flinching away when her fingers made contact with the cloth. _It’s just an article of clothing, Shirogane, good grief!_ She looked down at the dark blue item and immediately tried to list all the reasons why wearing this wouldn’t be a good idea. The sleeves would fall over her hands. The neck was cut very wide to accommodate Kanji’s frame better. It certainly reached far past her hips and would surely touch her thighs.

And all of this was being cancelled out by the small voice whispering to her she would be wearing _Kanji’s sweater._

Her musing was interrupted by the tall boy’s rough voice. He had moved and she noticed Rise attached to his arm beside her bed. She must have pulled him in, gods know for w- _Oh gods, my clothing is out in the open! Including my-!_

Kanji frowned at the orderly piles, then looked over at her. “Hey, where’s your hat?”

She swallowed, avoiding eye contact. “My jacket has a hood. I did not bring a hat due of that.” The embarrassment at him possibly seeing her binder or other undergarments made her abrupt in her response to him.

Twin tails bounced into her vision and Rise pushed herself in front of her. “You were serious about that?! Naoto, you really should bundle up more. This isn’t just us going to school or shopping, we will be out in the snow for a few hours between warming up.” Rise actually had dropped her teasing for the moment and looked concerned.

Cracked knuckles made both of the girls turn their heads. “Dumbass! You need a hat or you’ll get cold! Hold on… “ With that, he darted out of the room.

“Isn’t it _sweet_ , how much he is worried about you, Naoto-kun?”

“Rise…” she sighed.

“What? I think it is cute, don’t you? Okay, maybe not precisely ‘knight in shining armour’-material, it’s just aa sweater, but he is worried about you and is trying to make sure you are warm and toasty…”

Naoto snatched up her underclothing and brandished it at Rise. “He could have seen this!”

The smug smile her friend showed her froze her in her tracks. “If I go by Kanji-kun’s blush, Naoto, he _did_ see it~”

If the detective had given her friend a look any flatter would, have been needed to be called two-dimensional. She turned, trying to put the clothing away and attempted to change the topic.  “You are making far too much of a commotion about all of this. I am fine. I would not have needed you or Tatsumi-kun to interfere on my behalf.”

“ _Needed_ , no, but just imagine this: Later tonight, when we’re all in bed, you two could sneak out and sit by the fireplace, snuggled close, finally conf-“

Hearing footsteps approach, Naoto jumped forward and clamped a hand over Rise’s mouth. She still stared daggers at the rolling eyes when Kanji poked his head around the corner, now dressed in his snow jacket and wearing a grey hat. “Eer…?”

“Nothing! Rise-san just nearly…. Nearly…” She yanked her hand away as Rise childishly gave her palm a lick.

“I nearly spoiled the surprise, Kanji-kun,” she trilled, giving Naoto a wink.

With a confused frown, Kanji turned his head to and from each of the girls. Naoto feared she looked ready to pass out – or hurt someone. And Rise seemed far too pleased with herself. He in turn seemed to decide that stepping in between the girls wasn’t worth the result, so he simply turned to Naoto, holding out a relatively large, white hat. “’ere.” He glanced away, then looked back to the girls. “I… I had two of ‘em, okay? Went shoppin’, couldn’t decide the other day an’ thought I’ll buy a spare an’… and…” At the same rate as Rise’s grin grew, so did his blush. “L-Look, just wear that, okay?”

Rise eyed the hat in his hands, then looked up at the other one he was now wearing. “That looks a lot like your own hat, Kanji-kun~”

“Damnit, Rise, I already said! I bought two! Hats are kinda important, ya ears hurt like hell when they get too cold an’ in case I lost one, I wanted another!”

“That was very thoughtful planning on your part, Tatsumi-kun.” Naoto closed her eyes and nodded, smiling. “If would have done well coordinating my packing with you. Clearly I was not informed enough.”

“Yeah, well, whatever. Just take the damn hat.” As she reached out, Kanji nodded gruffly and said, “Just get dressed already. Everyone’s waitin’.” He turned and marched out of their room.

Naoto opened her eyes at his rough reply, but saw what she had almost expected to. His eyes were downcast, he blushed and the rough side of his tongue was his clumsy attempt to hide his embarrassment. As he all but fled the room, there was another nerve-grinding titter behind her.

She would have loved to hide her own embarrassment better, too. With Rise standing right beside them, she felt as if a neon sign pointed at her, spelling out to the boy that she would not dismiss his advances off-hand, should he attempt any.

And at the same time, she knew she should not welcome him so. Between school, work and their different social graces, all she would be doing was leading him on – or, possibly worse, leading them down a path of ruined friendship for a pipedream. No matter what idyllic ideas Rise might have for the future of two her friends; the notion was utterly ridiculous.

But…

“This smells good,” Naoto mumbled without really thinking about it, as she lifted the sweater closer to her face.

Rise giggled and skipped out of the room, leaving her to stew in what she had just said.

With an annoyed sigh, she dropped his shirt into her pillow before putting her unpacked clothing away. Grumbling to herself about meddlesome idols and infuriatingly distracting young tailors, Naoto dressed in her snow gear. While she did not plan to actually go outside to participate in the sports, she would enjoy walking about in the wooded areas beside the slope. Taking in some fresh air, the tinny scent of freshly driven snow all around her, and the general quiet that came due to the qualities snow had as a sound absorber – she would be able to find some peace for herself outside. Being geared in a way that would repel snow was simply good planning, especially seeing they would be walking outside a fair bit.

All her reasoning in this matter was quite sound.

 _Then why am I hesitating to put on this hat and simply get going?_ She had donned the clothing and stood by the window, nodding when Rise said she needed to hurry, else she would miss going on the lift with Yu-senpai. Running her hand over the hat over and over, Naoto turned and walked into the main room.

One by one, the team filed out, calling to her, asking her to join them. “Soon,” she replied, “Go on ahead,” she would say - but in truth, she hoped she could be the last one to leave so she could smuggle out her book.

The short, blue-haired girl still stood near the windows offering a view of one of the more advanced slopes, toying with the hat Kanji had lent her. She would not need it, really, if she were to simply stay behind and read. She could find one of the huts, drink something hot and just relax…

Footfalls behind her announced the next person approaching who needed deflection. She felt her heart leap when she recognized Kanji’s low voice. “Er… yo? Naoto… we’re the last ones. Goota go, else the others will…” He fell silent, then tried a more light-hearted approach, starting off with a small laugh. “Heh, yer gonna miss all the fun. Don’t wanna be teased later, right?”

She did not turn to look at him. He would be disappointed and, if she was being truthful with herself, she did not wish to see it reflected on his face. “I'll stay behind.”

“What?!” The outburst almost made her smile. It was much more what she considered to be ‘real Kanji’, than the soft-spoken and gentle man he could be. _And that way,_ she admitted to herself _, he is also easier to face._ But he caught himself, cleared his throat and paused, before looking at her worriedly. “I mean… Why?”

“As I have previously attempted to explain, I cannot ski, Tatsumi-kun.”

He simply nodded. “Yeah, ya mentioned. An’ Rise said it’ll be my job ta help. I'll teach ya.”

 _Why do you have to be so… so…_ She sighed. “I would merely impede your own enjoyment. I have never before had any interaction with skies or similar winter sports, you would ‘be stuck’ with me for too long.” She turned, trying to make him understand.

Giving her a far too easy smile, he stood tall and crossed his arms. “Na, I'd like to.” His smile froze and he shifted, uncrossing his arms hurriedly. “Shit, no, I didn’t mean bein’ stuck… I mean, no, I wouldn’t be stuck, or whatever, damnit! I’d like to show ya how to ski!” He grumbled, took off his hat and ruffled his hair, gazing aside. “Yer sayin’ that as if I’d mind, I wouldn’t! I want to hang out with… I mean… I would like to… if you…”

Naoto gazed aside as well now, the white hat restlessly moving between her hands over and over. “Surely you'd rather enjoy yourself on the slopes. I can very easily enjoy myself out reading a book or just taking a few walks. If you are more skilled, surely you’d enjoy skiing yourself. The idea is for _everyone_ to have fun. Tatsumi-kun.”

With a grunt, the tailor put his hat on, then took hers and gently tucked it over her head. The boldness of his move towards her made her freeze in place and allowed him to even put his hand onto her shoulder. “Look, I won't have fun knowing you're not having fun with us.”

What could she say to that? Except maybe one last chance for him to change his mind? “If you are certain…”

“Sure I’m sure! C’mon, let’s go get kitted out!

 

* * *

 

Without Kanji gently hovering at her side, helping her with the rental of her skis, the sizing of everything, and the suggestions regarding the slope where they would go for her to learn, she would have been utterly lost. His general nervousness around her melted like spring snowfall while he confidently took up the role of teacher. She was also very glad he had managed to convince her to wear a second pair of socks over her current one. The shoes were just as uncomfortable as he had described them and the cushion from the extra layers only helped a little.

He insisted they avoid the ski lift, even to the beginner’s slope and found them a spot near the bottom of one of the larger hills.

“This… is…”

“Mhm, problem, Naoto?”

“W-Well, this part was mapped as intermediate, Tatsumi-kun. I don’t feel ready for that just yet.” _Or ever…_

“Oh, right, hah.” He shifted both of their gear over his shoulder and started walking ahead, to the side of the slope. Naoto scrambled to keep up. “See, the bottoms of these slopes are all the same. You need space to run out your speed, right, so this place is pretty cool to start learnin’. Bunny hill will be full of other newbies and I think you’d…” He trailed off, and cautiously glanced at her. “Well, I don’t want ya ta be embarrassed or nothin’.  The good skiers just run out their speed here, they don’t wanna hang round’. An’ at the bunny hill, well, it wouldn’t be as safe. Everyone fumblin’ ‘round and stuff. This way I can pay more attention to-“ Kanji stopped himself, swallowing hard.

Not sure she was quite willing to acknowledge the flutter in her stomach or the idea he would, possibly, maybe, confirm Rise’s teasing, Naoto simply kept walking

This was simply absurd. The outlandish notion that his interest would actually translate into anything was simply wishful thinking. And wishful thinking, at that, she did not wish to think much of!

All her research into the feelings she was struggling to still place a proper name to, had results in the same conclusion. Teenagers had a natural hormonal drive which directed them into certain actions. Seeking someone to couple off with was driven by the awakening of baser desires and sexual drive – something she could not even make herself think about during bouts of need for _alone time_. She had, _once!,_ tested out thinking of a known male partner during this and she may have toyed with the idea of making that partner someone closer, someone she knew, someone like a steady companion… and the shame and embarrassment she felt at the attempt still could make her cringe.

No, this was all a phantom, projected by biology. And as a logical thinking, highly evolved organism, surely pure biology was not something she would fall prey to.

A hand grabbed her arm and she spun around. Kanji gave her a quizzical look and released her again. “I said this is fine, Naoto. We can start here. Heh, you were thinkin’ ‘bout stuff again, right? Didn’t even hear me…”

 _Why would he sound so sad when he said that?_ “My apologies. I … work,” she fell back on her standard fib these days, “I brought some case files Grampa sent me and they are most fascinating.”

He stuck the skies into the snow before him and pumped his arm into a flex, tapping his jacket-hidden biceps with his free hand. “Well, yer Grampa’ll have to deal without your genius brain for a few hours. Because right now, it’s learnin’ time!”

She could not help the chuckle as she watched him getting fired up over the idea of teaching her. “I will attempt to not be a miserable student, Tatsumi-kun.” She picked up her skies and gave them a closer inspection. “So… how does this work?”

He put his skies down and gently took hers, putting them near his. “Okay, you do your left, I do my right. Watch.” They knelt together and he pointed at the front part of his shoe, then at hers. “You got this little hook thingie right here. What ya do first, is you pretend to step into this counter-part here on your tip toes.” There was a sharp _snick_ and she saw the front of his boot attach.

She looked down to her own foot and repeated the motion. She felt the fastening secure with a similar loud _click_ and as she leaned back, a third loud click sounded. Naoto froze.

“See, yer a pro already, I didn’t even need to tell ya about the back.” With a grin, he stomped his own foot down and the _snick_ repeated. What she had not been able to see on her own heel, she saw on his – the ski had securely fastened, attaching the slim board to his foot. Kanji already pulled his second board close and slipped into the binding. Pushing himself up effortlessly, he stomped sideways around the snow a few times, then picked up his poles. “See? Easy like that!”

Nothing about this felt particularly _easy_ to Naoto. The shoes were still uncomfortable and tight; she felt parts of her circulation being supressed and her left foot felt like it was on pins and needles. She needed to move, soon, or this would get worse.

Struggling into her second binding, she felt her feet lock in place. And now…

Kanji watched her uneasily and finally moved a bit closer, walking sideways on his skies. “Wha’s wrong?”

“I… appear to be stuck?”

“Stuck how?”

“I…” She suddenly giggled and slapped a gloved hand over her mouth. “I’m sorry, Tatsumi-kun! I cannot seem to be able to stand up.”

“Oh! Oh, right, sorry. Try usin’ ya ski poles.” He moved them closer to her and she grabbed hold of one, trying to pull herself up. Her skies slipped and she neatly folded in on herself once more.

“Maybe… Maybe I should not have knelt down to put these on?”

“Na, yer doin’ fine.” He hesitated, then moved closer still. She felt one hand grab hold of her jackets hood-pouch. “Try again.”

She grabbed her sticks, tried to pull herself up by her arms, and felt his grip tighten to help pull her up. Between the two of them, she pushed herself up in her feet and found a wobbly balance. “This… this is… a most awkward feeling…”

“Sorry!” He let go of her jacket. “Just waned ta help!”

“No, I apologize, not you, I meant trying to feel my feet is strange in these shoes. I feel… I feel rather constricted.”

“Yeah, the binding needs ta be tight. Every shift in how ya stand changes how yer skies point an… eer..” He looked around hurriedly. “Here… lemme… lemme show ya.”

Naoto held herself firmly in place by holding on to the thin metal sticks in her hands and watched how he side-stepped away from her, then simply seemed to shift his weight. His legs moved down a bit, he crouched slightly and put some weight to the inside of his ankles. Immediately his skies started to drift. Startled, Naoto flung a hand out to him, but he simply smiled and … wiggled. She had no means of describing the way he slowly shifted his weight.

“See? I jus’ changed from standin’ on my toes to standin’ on my heels just then. An’ now… see? I’m jus’ movin’ my weight side to side?” He did an elegant swoop and suddenly she watched him slide backwards a bit, smiling at her. _Kanji Tatsumi… being… elegant._ “C’mon! Shift yer weight back!”

“So… so what do I do?”

“Like I just said: Ya gotta move your weight behind ya. Stick… eer..” He flushed and looked aside. “Stick-Stick yer butt out a bit behind ya, an’ lean on yer heels.”

A few beats of relative silence followed as Naoto simply stare at Kanji.

He finally turned his head and gruffly barked, “What?”

“Can you show me once more?”

He turned his head sharply and slowly moved himself sideways. “J-Just watch.” He crouched a little and she watched as he shifted his weight back marginally. At once his skies moved and he rammed his poles into the snow. “See how easy this moves?”

“Easily,” she mumbled.

“Pardon?”

“Nothing. Just… okay.”

“Just make sure your put your skies into a V-position.” He lifted his hands and showed her. “Like this. The point goes forward. That’ll slow ya down.”

Naoto tried to move her feet, but did not move.

“No, no, ya gotta also move your weight back!”

“Ah, of course.” She started to mimic his pose and began to accelerate.

“Damnit… Look, Naoto, I said, spread your feet like a V! Do it! If yer bein' scared, it'll be more dangerous for ya!”

“V-V position, V position...” she mumbled to herself, trying to shift her feet. Nearly over-balancing forward, she reeled back and her feet settled down parallel to one another. With a squeak she noticed as she rapidly gained velocity. Her gaze slid up and the squeak turned into a startled scream as she noticed she was headed right at Kanji.

Naoto clamped her eyes shut and hoped it would maybe at least not hurt too much.

A heavy thud and she felt herself hitting into him, and, possibly, falling over. Yes, the way her legs appeared sprawled now, she had fallen over.

“Ooooouch!”

“Oof…” The girl groaned and opened her eyes. Before her was a light brown hoodie. As she tilted her head up, she saw Kanji look down on her with a startled expression on his face. “Oh, I-I'm so sorry!” Naoto struggled to try and untangle her legs, pushing herself up with both hands firmly on his chest. Her legs moved but felt trapped and she could not pull herself free and- ”Huh?” Attempting to struggle free, Naoto felt her skies slide against his without hold and her legs twisted uncomfortably. “I seem to be... I...” Her own skies slid against his once more and she slipped, falling yet again. “Wh-Whoa!”

With a frustrated sigh, she pinched her eyes shut and took a deep breath. And stilled. The scent that permeated the warmth her face was pressed into was a familiar and comforting one. Clean linen, the acidic hint of dyes and sandalwood. She had caught his scent before, here and there. When he would rush in to protect her from a shadows’ attack. When he pressed his back against hers during the execution of _Beauty and the Beast_. Here and there when they walked together or passed one another on the schools’ grounds. And now.

She relaxed, taking another deep breath before pushing herself up and looking down at him. “Sorry...”

He smirked, giving her an amused huff. “Don't worry about it.”

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Anyone else ever notice how similar Naoto's and Kanji's hats during that trip are? And how his looks the right size for him and hers looks way too large on her?


	4. Tea or Hot Chocolate?

_This is mortifying._ “I am very sorry, Kanji-kun. It would appear I am incapable of … of… getting myself…” There seemed no way at all of saying it without making the situation even worse for her.

He leaned sideways to look down and around Naoto, sporting what most likely was a matching blush to her own. “Eer. Okay. Right. Okay, see, heh, to get up, ya can’t just get up like you normally do. Uhm…” She tried to move her legs again, and felt his hands squeeze her by the shoulders. “No! No, no, stop…” His hands rubbed uneasily over her shoulders, clearly trying to break the tension, but actually managing to make the two of them tense up even more. “Stop, heh… Okay, uhm… I’ll need to roll you offa me. Just…” Kanji chuckled, and looked straight up, clearly unsure on what to say next. He paused and simply stared at her.

Naoto, in return, stared down at the boy, her mind going in circles. It started with the core dismay about the oldest trope in the romantic playbook _; “Falling Into One Another 101 – Physically”_ ; skipped from there to the mortified feeling of being entirely out of her element and ended at feeling oddly comfortable where she was. Which played right back into the romantic trope and had her glare aside furiously. “This is ridiculous.”

Ever-helpful Kanji Tatsumi misunderstood her distress. “Na, your jus’ new ta all’a this. Everyone has their first fall when learning to ski. And you’ll have plenty more. The trick is getting back up.” He leaned his hands against her shoulders once more and smiled brightly. “Okay, trust me, yeah? Just do what I ask for a moment?”

Taking a deep breath, she nodded and turned her head to face him again.

“Okay, this’ll sound weird, but just… lay down on me, so you can lift yer legs at the knees.”

Get even closer to him? She shook her head empathically. “No.” His eyes widened and before he could say anything, she tried to explain her reaction. “N-No, I could… I could hurt you if I put my full weight on you!”

Watching his face up close was strange for her to begin with, but watching his amusement now sparked in his eyes, then slowly pulled his lips into a smirk, only to flow over his cheeks and crinkle the sides of his eyes before he threw his head back laughing was actually… fascinating. His mirth was cut short when he suddenly squeaked and tried to shoot up, nearly crashing into her. “ARGH! Snow down my neck!” He still giggled, however, and his inexplicable amusement started to make her smile, though in confusion.

“Mind telling me what is so funny?”

“Naoto, you could jump on me and not hurt me. Really. Just… just, c ‘mon, lean forward. Put yer hands on my shoulders and push down, so you can kick yer feet up.”

The girl glowered past the blue-haired fringes of hair at the smirking boy below her. _Thinks I am too insignificant to do damage, does he?_ She tightened her core, lifted both hands and slammed them into his shoulders, pushing him down hard enough to push him back into the snow drift. His squeak as snow fell down his neck was immediate and quite rewarding. Looking over her shoulder, she slowly untangled their boards and bend her knees back, lifting her feet away. She just got her feet free and looked back at Kanji; as Chie and Yosuke rushed by them. Chie clearly saw them, her surprised smile lighting up her face, and Yosuke swooped his board around, pointing that blasted little camcorder right at them. “Young love blossoms in the snow!” she heard him call out and she was ready to just scrabble back to her feet, when Kanji’s hands grabbed her shoulders.

“Nope, focus! Let Hanamura-senpai be an ass all he wants; you’re still not done here!” She turned the glower on him, then pinched her eyes shut and nodded. “So, ya got yer feet up, right?”

She grunted, not looking at him, and nodded. “Yes.”

“Great!” With that, Kanji grabbed her shoulders and flipped her off him, pushing her over sideways. It was her turn to squeak about snow down her neck now. He snickered and gently said, “Payback’s a bitch, eh?” When she was about to struggle up, his arms on her shoulder kept her in place still. “Hold on, just push yourself up sideways. Like yer sittin’ at an informal dinner. I’ll do the same. Ready?”

Both teens pushed up sitting with their legs tucked to one side. “Oh. This was… quite a lot simpler,” she admitted, looking down her legs, which had tucked back orderly almost by themselves.

“Right? So, each time yer fall, first thing ta do is unknot yer legs. Then all you gotta do is get up sideways. And then-“ Here Kanji rolled sideways on his boards and stood. “See? Easy! Also, if ya can’t do that, this way you can reach down to your bindings and release them. You can stand, put your boards down and re-fasten the binding.”

“That may be easier for me to achieve…” Naoto released the snaps of her bindings and struggled to her feet slowly. As she watched, Kanji already used his poles to arrange the skies for her and smiled encouragingly. She frowned at the skies. “I have barely been on these devilish things and already had to escape them. I am not making a lot of progress, am I?”

“What? Bulls-! I-I mean… no way! Yer doin’ fine! Hop back on, let’s work on yer balance a bit before we try downhill again. Snow is nice and deep here, that’ll hold you in place.”

The girl took a few moments to re-adjust her clothing, tuck her hat back down and glance about. Overall, Kanji had been correct: Fewer curious eyes were on them in this corner of the slopes and the skiers breezing past them were too caught up in their own enjoyment to pay them any second glances.

Well. Aside from their friends. Chie and Yosuke whooped at them from across the other side while on the ski lifts back up. The blue-haired girl flinched, her eyes glued to the tips of her skies.

“Ignore ‘em, Naoto.” The young man’s strong voice cut through her embarrassment and grabbed her attention back to the slope. “Focus on yer own stuff. Lean back. Slooowly…” He tried to inch out of her way to make sure she had space to slide past him.

“P-Please don’t step aside!”

Kanji froze. “Okay! Okay, I ain’t goin’ nowhere! Just didn’t want ya to run right into me in case you packed up speed.”

She shuddered in fear. “I ha-have no intention of any additional ve-velocity.”

He leaned forward on his poles and tried to peer at her face. “Na… Nanoto? You’re not scared, are ya?”

Clutching to her own ski poles, she shivered once more. “Ski is a sport p-prone to injury, especially for ne-new enthusiasts…”

He tilted his head slowly, still staring at her. “You’ve been reading stuff again, haven’t you?”

“I me-merly wanted to be pre-“

“Forget all that stuff. Right now.”

“But-“

“Because none’a these things ya read had _me_ in ‘em. I won’t let ya hurt yerself.”

Naoto swallowed and finally lifted her eyes from her skies, looking at the tall boy. His eyes locked onto hers at once and it felt as if he tried to pull her out of her fears with that simple gaze alone. Slowly his serious gaze turned into an encouraging smile. Naoto felt her lips twitch into a smile of her own. He nodded and leaned back, allowing his skies to slowly slide a bit, then he rammed his poles back into the white fluff beneath and he stopped.

“Here,” he said, side-stepping back to her, “try something for me. Watch what I do. Go a bit into your knees… lower… now watch!” He hopped, turning his skies sideways. “See that? It’s how you can stop yerself in a pinch. Try it.” Again he set his own boards onto the slope and let himself glide away from her.

She nodded, swallowed and tried to follow him, trailing her poles in the snow behind her as she had learned to do – then she skipped her skies sideways and nearly toppled into him because she stopped much more sudden than she expected.

“Wh-whoa! Hahah, see, Naoto, you can do it!” He held her by one shoulder, his pole dangling down from the loop around his wrist. “By tomorrow, I’ll conquer the bunny hill with ya!”

Something which sounded like a loud, drawn-out whine suddenly rushed by them, warped by the Doppler effect. “Senpaaaaiiii~ You’re going too faaaaast!” Both Kanji and Naoto watched Rise going by them at a steady, careful speed, trying to catch up to Yu.

Kanji chuckled. “Man, girl won’t let go of him no matter what. I’m telling you, when his train leaves, we’ll have to put her in chains, else she’ll try to hold on to the train doors.”

Naoto nodded to his comment, casting a glance at his direction before watching her friend and her interest.

Rise’s infatuation with Yu had been quite obvious from the moment she had joined the group. It surprised her, honestly, because before she had become a member of the group, the interest Yukiko-senpai held in him had been very clear to her trained eye. Indeed, any of the girls seemed to have some design or another upon the leader of their group. And as she had heard both Yukiko and Chie remark, there _is_ something about leaders that speaks to anyone. Be it admiration or romantic notions – leaders of any group seemed to polarize those around themselves.

_So then… So then why do I not feel the same?_

There had been moments during these past few months, especially during the investigation of the ‘Phantom Thief’, in which she felt she should have fallen for her senpai. All the right ingredients seemed to have been there. Shared secrets. Spending time at each other’s homes. Even possibly dangerous situations with one another. But nothing of the sort happened. He was her partner in the investigation, the first _real_ partner she had ever had in such an undertaking, someone to support and assist, but not try to take over. She appreciated his input, she even was able to ignore when he tried to jump between her and Yakushiji, when he thought he brandished a knife. She simply wanted to be taken serious in her work, and he had always done so. So why had this part of their friendship not translated into anything but respect?

Suddenly she bumped into Kanji’s side and he flung an arm around her shoulder to steady her. “Whoops? Hehehe, that’s skiing for ya, don’t pay attention for just a moment and you’re off!”

She shook him off with a blush and leaned back up, turning her face away from him. Of course, daydreaming about one guy she felt she should be attracted to, translated into a literal attraction towards another boy. Gods, this weekend had not been a good idea…

The tall boy perked up and stood taller. Pointing towards the sloped, he said“Oh, look, Chie-senpai and Yosuke-senpai are back, too.”

Her gaze followed where he indicated on the slope. Yosuke was chasing a very comfortable-looking Chie with his camcorder, while the sporty girl tried to spray snow at him with sharp turns and flicks of her board. Naoto could not help the feeling of envy climbing up her back as she saw the ease the other girl showed. Was all of this really only one day of learning? Less than an hour, truthfully?

Their female senpai pointed at them and waved. Yosuke flipped his front to them both, waving at them as they shot past. Kanji grumbled something about ‘need to stop showin’ off’, but lifted one hand half-heartedly to wave back.

As she watched them rush by them, Naoto pondered once more what Rise had easier earlier that day. Chie certainly seemed comfortable around Yosuke. Both of them seemed to try to show one another up – or to show off in front of the other. Considering it in the light her friend has cast on these actions, it could certainly be understood as if they tried to present themselves to one another is their best light. Active, fun, attractive.

She also felt that, if indeed the whole display before them was flirting, then Chie did an outstanding job at it. Yosuke appeared fascinated with her, trying to stay close, even though she frequently sprayed snow over him and teased with her movement and skill.

Her eyes also moved to Yu and Rise, who right now stood a bit off to one side. She seemed to try inching closer, while he, smiling, kept his distance, gently directing her as he moved. Another paring in the making, perhaps, and the way they seemed drawn to one another. This match could possibly a successful one, at that.

Lost in her musings, the girl missed something that her teacher spotted further up the slope. Kanji cursed and threw himself into her, making both of them slide further to the side lines. Only a heartbeat later, two skiers barreled past them, and Naoto barely recognized the costumed mascot as Teddie as one of the two.The logical conclusion was, that him and Yukiko had another downhill match. Naoto faintly heard Teddie and Yukiko shouting something at one another, but their voices did not carry well enough to hear them.

“Oh hell-“ Kanji bit off his words and waved his ski poles high, shouting. “SENPAI! RISE! WATCH OUT!”

Naoto thought it was nothing short of a miracle that the two heard the tall blonde, and was even more surprised that Kanji managed to nudge her into gear, following him down the slope. Fear for her friends trumped fear for her own fragile bones, and she followed Kanji at a steady pace. They did not get far before Teddie somehow managed to cross his skies just before their two friends and catapulted himself into the air, shouting, “Ku~ma~!”

The five remaining friends turned downhill at once to follow. Chances were they would have to give apologies over the bear-shadow’s behavior, or, worse, offer first aid. Yu and Yukiko quickly took point, racing down the slope after their airborne friend. Kanji seemed eager to follow, but after the small distressed sound Naoto made, he hung back with her, making sure she and Rise, the two beginners of the team, were being kept safe.

“Hey, put your ski goggles up, just in case. They filter the light a bit, too, help ya see better”, he shouted over his shoulders.

Naoto, running on adrenaline, opted to simply home in on Kanji and ignore everything else until he slowed down and she gently bumped into his back, her hand snapping around his waist.

Before her stood a hysterically laughing Yukiko, leaning on Yu, while Rise at least tried to hide her laughter behind a hand. Chie stood, one leg released from the binding of her snowboard, and filmed how Teddie and Yosuke tried to dig themselves out of a pile of snow in front of a café. It seemed that somehow, both of them had crashed into a large snowdrift before the public hut. And, from all that Naoto could see, no one was injured. She relaxed, exhaling with her arm still around her instructor for the day.

With everything calming down around them she felt Kanji starting to shake; and as she glanced up his side, he, too, started to laugh. With wide eyes, she turned to watch Yosuke punch his arm out of the snow. He grabbed into the drift and pulled Teddie out, only to start pulling on his zipper to ‘fill that damn suit with snow’, as he shouted.

It was then, finally, she, too, broke into laughter. Kanji hugged her shoulder, Rise appeared o0n her other side and snuggled an arm around the blue-haired girl, and the _kohai_ simply stood and laughed heartily.

And as Naoto started to wheeze for air, struggling to not fall over on her skies, realization hit it. Being held by her two friends, she suddenly understood why Kanji and Rise had been so adamant about her joining them out here. Sure, she would have enjoyed reading her books or case files. She might even have chuckled if they had later shared this story with her. But being here, laughing with them as it happened, watching Teddie struggle to get away while Chie still circled closer to get a better view – this was so much better than any second-hand telling. ‘You had to be there’ came to mind, and she hugged Rise tightly, wheezing, “Th-Thank you for making me come along!”

“Teehee, told you!” The idol winked at her, then made a point of looking at Kanji’s arm around her shoulder and leaned in to add, “You’d have missed out on _so much_ , Naoto!”

While her first impulse was to pull away from her two friends hugging her, she grudgingly admitted… this was kind of nice.

“If I had half your streak of rebellious taunting, Rise-san,” she murmured back, “I would need to become handsy to just take the wind out of your sails.”

The idol turned and hugged both Kanji and Naoto as best she could and giggled, “Man, I can only hope!”

“Unh! Hope what, Rise?”

“Nothing,” she simply giggled and bend to unfasten her skies. “Hey, you guys ready to try some downhill?”

“Sure?” Kanji said.

“No!” Naoto squeaked on top of him.

“O-kaaaay,” Rise snickered, “I’ll let you guys take the lead then. Looks like Teddie and Yosuke need to warm up a bit first, so is anyone else for hot chocolate?”

“Oh, yeah, I can go for that!” Kanji unfastened his bindings with his ski poles easily. “Let’s go, Naoto!”

She hesitated. “Uhm… can you help me get out of these?” She lifted one ski-blinding-ensnared foot and bit her lip.

“Ah, sure.”

Unexpectedly, not only did Kanji drop to his knee; Rise, too, bend down to help Naoto pull her feet out of her bindings. She held on to Kanji’s shoulder and flinched at the uncomfortable feeling that bad circulation had left her with in her feet and lower legs. “How long does it take for your body to get accustomed to these tight shoes?”

“Weeks,” the Idol quipped. “First time I was in these for a movie, I was just starting to feel comfortable when shooting ended.”

“Wonderful,” Naoto sighed.

Chie, standing beside Yosuke and helping him to scoop snow out of his pockets, gave her a smile. “Hey, don’t worry, we can warm up a bit for now and you can skip your shoes off. Wiggle your toes!”

Naoto felt Kanji stand beside her, holding both of their skies. “Let’s go, warming up sounds great just about now.”

 

* * *

 

Still in their bulky ski clothing, the friends snuggled together on a bench in the far end of the café. Naoto had been sorely tempted to treat herself with a hot chocolate, but after too much teasing from Rise, she had opted for a simple _sencha_. It was hot, it would be adequate.

Glancing around, she noticed most of the team hanging out mixed up from how they had been on the slopes and were found in how they would often hang out at school as well. Chie and Yukiko shared a blanket, chuckling while watching the recorded footage on the camcorder. Yu, Yosuke, and Kanji chatted about something she did not overhear, but she saw Kanji inspecting the shaggy-haired boy’s snowboard. Chances were he considered trying it out for himself.

Not everyone was sitting by the group, however. Teddie was surrounded by a swath of children and parents, having pictures taken. This had been the norm during his early days in Inaba, and no one thought much of it any longer. Teddie loved anyone, and children brought out a certain playfulness in him. Chances were he had more fun with the attentions of strangers upon him than he could have sitting here, chatting.

Which left her… with Rise.

“So~! How is it hanging out more with Kanji-kun?”

“Your fascination with the perceived notion that I would flow into a puddle of romanticized longing the moment I spend more than a minute alone with Kanji-kun is Just so far beyond the pale…”

For a few seconds, there was a very sly look in Rise’s eyes and Naoto prepared herself for follow-up teasing. But then her face surprisingly fell and she leaned closer into Naoto, lowering her voice. “Really, though, you said you’re interested, no?”

“That is the impression you have of my …friendship with him.”

A deep sigh and an eye roll followed. “Well, what do _you_ think it is?”

“I…” Naoto frowned and turned her head to the boys.

Kanji intently listened to Yosuke. All three of the had leaned forward, holding the board and inspected the bottom side of it.

Truthfully, she was seeing sides of Kanji she had not before. Generally, he spent considerable amounts of time and preparation on his appearance; his hair especially. And while it seemed to have had a good amount of product earlier today, right now, after putting his hat on and taking it off a number of times, it looked different. Ruffled. Playful. She very nearly smiled.

No matter how she tried to rationalize the time she had spent with him already, it did very much come down to her enjoying the time in his company. Even something as awkward and embarrassing as learning a new skill felt manageable with him around. He had even made less comfortable matters, such as falling, be fun and amusing. Sure, there was some teasing, but that is what friends did, correct?

So, was there any discernable pattern for her?

The answer, at least in her own mind, remained uncertain. “I really am not sure, Rise-san.”

“Oh come!” Naoto felt a light slap on her arm and she turned her head with a small grunt. “You’ve been pretty much moonstruck-“

“ _Rise-san!_ ”

“What?”

“You are grossly exaggerating the situation– you are!” Naoto put her hand up and looked away from her friend, worriedly checking if the others in the group listened in. Thankfully, everyone was preoccupied. “I understand your … fascination with the matter. However, I will not discuss _anything_ with you if your approach to the matter at hand is-is like _this_.”

Sporting her best idol-pout, Rise crossed her arms. “Okay. I’ll stop trying to hype, as much as it’s a shame. But you need to stop trying to pretend there’s nothing going on!”

“Because there simply is noth-“ She stopped, eyeing Rise’s upheld hand. Crossing her arms now, she leaned back. “Very well. What proof do you have to present then?”

“You’re really going to make me spell it out to you, _Detective_? …okay.” Rise scooted closer, glanced at their friends, then lowered her voice as she turned back to Naoto. “Before we even came out here, you,” she dropped her voice, trying to poorly imitate Naoto’s own, “have been paying a lot more attention to Tatsumi-kun.” She giggled and waved. “Sorry, sorry, I’ll not even try. So, you’ve been watching him. A lot. And not just casually ‘Oh-I-wonder-what-he’s-up-to’-like. You’ve been looking at him differently, too. Like you’re confused. Like you’re trying to find out stuff about him.”

“It is in my nature-“

“No! Not like a detective. Like a … like…” Rise started to grin and leaned even close, making Naoto try to pull aside. “Like you’re trying out his last name for size.”

“Do not be absurd.” She was barely of legal age to get married, Kanji had only just recently turned sixteen himself – too young for a man. Not that she had looked this up for her own situation, she had known this for a few years now. It had come up in a case, that was all. Really, it was almost common knowledge. Besides, _Naoto Tatsumi_ was not going to be an option. No change in last name really would be. She was the last of the family line, after all. She would remain a Shirogane, no matter what. Or who. Not that she had any reason to contemplate such affairs. “there is your hyperbole again.”

“Okay, fine, maybe that was a bit much. But, really, you’re fooling yourself. You are _so_ into the boy. You just need to admit that you are!”

“That yer what?” Kanji stood before them, looking at the girls. “Still cold, Naoto?”

She flushed, reached for her tea and drained it. “N-No, I am perfectly fine.”

“Cool! Let’s go hit the slopes again, okay? I got yer gear, I’ll see ya outside!” With a smile, he gave Rise a nudge with his knee as he turned away. “You better get movin’, too, else someone will go and grab Yu-senpai away from ya…”

“What have you heard?!” Rise shot to her feet and ran after the blonde, who seemed to have the time of his life, dodging her questions.

Naoto smirked for a moment, then sighed. 

She knew Rise did mean well. She wasn't quite sure how or why, but she knew there was concern in the actions of her only true friend in this group - aside from Kanji. The other girl had attached herself to Naoto, and she honestly felt a sense of kinship from her. They knew being in the spotlight, they knew about traveling for work, they knew about not seeing family often. Oddly, even with this background, they still were so different. To Rise, relationshipss needed to be direct, fast and open. Naoto, who had experienced few relationships of any kind aside from professional ones, felt uneasy with that idea.

She did like Kanji. There was a bond between them, expressed by their ability to execute combo attacks even. Not everyone on the team could work so closely with everyone else. In the case of Teddie and Yosuke, the two lived together and possibly knew one another very well. In the case of Yukiko and Chie, they had been friends for many years. And Yu, well, he had so many different personae that finding one for a combined attack seemed unlikely.

How it could be that she and Kanji had enough in common or deep enough a bond for Beauty and the Beast still baffled her, if she spend time thinking about it.

Her musing was interrupted by a gentle tap on her shoulder.

“Are you doing okay, Naoto-kun?” Naoto stood, glancing up slightly at the concerned face of her dark-haired female senpai. “You and Rise seemed to be talking about something unpleasant.”

“I am quite well, thank you. Did I concern you in some form?” The junior Shirogane took off her hat and fumbled with it.

“Well, you did look a bit uncomfortable out there, and then here you and Rise-chan were all huddled close, looking very serious.”

The hat was swiftly returned and the girl turned towards the door. “Nothing is wrong, thank you, Yukiko-senpai. I believe Kanji-kun is waiting for me.”

She hurried outside, just in time to see Rise give chase after Yu and trying to pry him away from Teddie. Letting her senpai standing so abruptly  _was_ rude, but she would not allow anyone else to try and poke into this. Having Rise be nosy was already embarrassing enough.

Only a few steps outside the door Kanji stood ready, waving at her. “Ready for round two?”

“Y-Yes.” She avoided looking at him, quickly walking ahead towards the part of the slope they had claimed earlier.

The boy easily caught up to her and followed her quietly for a short while.

Her thoughts tracked back him. Kanji had seemed nothing but genuine in his desire to help her learn to ski. The interest she showed the snowboard right now, however, made her wonder if maybe she should let him go out for an hour or so and just have fun, without her dragging him down. Maybe she would even spend the time to practice a bit. Or she could change what she was doing. She had the whole matter of balance down, maybe she could do some light cross-country skiing instead?

Not because she felt _that_ uneasy around him. As she had previously admitted, being around the boy did comfort her in a way. But she was concerned that he was not having fun.

“This is okay right here, I think,” he said from beside her, “unless yer really don’t wanna be here.”

“Pardon, Kanji-kun?”

“Well…” He trailed off and looked around. Ramming both their pairs of skies into the snow, he turned back to her. “Look, I want you to have fun, too, y’know? An’ I’m not sure if yer havin’ fun with me.”

“I am!” Both of them shared a shocked look at her outburst. Naoto flushed and shook her head. “No, I mean, yes, I am having fun. With you… I am not very good at any of this, however, and I worry you could get bored.” She looked at him and sighed softly. “I do wish for you to enjoy yourself as well, Kanji-kun.”

“You can be so silly.” A smile lit his face up. “Naoto. Listen.” He leaned forward on his ski poles, lowering himself. “I _am_ having fun! Showing you this stuff is totally fun for me. Heck, if you ever asked, I’d show you hot ta knit and while I am sure I could make half a scarf in the time you learn how to make your first row, I’d still not need to. I’d simply sit behind you, show you how to-“ He suddenly cut off, the image being too vivid for him. For her, too, if she was being honest.

She saved them both. “Very well. If you feel this is acceptable, then I will stop resisting your aid.”

“Cool!” He nodded at her. "Thank you can put your skies on yourself this time?"

"Yes, _sensei_ ," she said, chuckling at him. 

 


	5. Warming Up with Friends and Food

“I can hardly wait to escape these… these...” Naoto grunted and hopped a few times on the spot – flinching, when her suffering blood vessels protested. That, possibly, and cold feet. She allowed herself a small groan. “I can fully appreciate that these need to be tight for safety, but…”

Chie nodded in sympathy as she tapped the toes of her own boots to the ground. “Oh man, yeah, I feel it, too. I mean, it’s been a year since I went to do anything like this. Our feet and calves will be very sore by tonight.”

The heard Yosuke snicker and turned to look over to him. “Ladies, wait till later tonight.” He put a hand on Kanji’s shoulder, winked at him and said, “you’ll be so sore you never knew what hit you!”

The younger girl, who had made the grave mistake of glancing at the blonde, felt her reaction mirrored in him as she tensed up, blushed and turned away immediately. _No, no, I am not going to give Yosuke-senpai the satisfaction of seeing my embarrassment; and I will_ not _allow my mind to wander-_ But it was like being told to not think of a purple elephant with green stripes, wasn’t it? Her mind connected the boy and the promise of being aching and took her away to places she had rather avoided altogether; teenaged hormones being neither here nor there. Really, Yosuke-senpai was so lacking in tact, she was amazed he did not run into issues while working at Junes.

Chie, thankfully, was not one to easily fluster – especially not around her classmate. Stepping right in front of him, she leaned up on her toes and stared into his face. “I may not know what hit me, but you sure as hell will in a moment, Hanamura…!”

Naoto closed her eyes and smiled, listening to her senpai have their customary fight over _him_ being lewd and _her_ telling him when he crossed the line. It was comforting to know that there were dynamics in her team that had not changed since they started to befriend and that were likely to remain a continual matter for a long time. Even outside of school or the TV world – this was what made a great part of their friendship.

She felt a jostle and opened her eyes to look at Rise Kujikawa having attached herself to her arm. “Really, Yosuke-senpai, you are such a dirty old man at times! Can’t you at least try to sound sexy when you say stuff like that?”

Somehow, this comment seemed to upset the boy more than the threat of physical violence from their sporty senpai had. “Wh-WHAT?! Dude, that totally was me being sexy!”

“Oh,” Rise said, looking thoughtful. “Hm. Well, at least you’re trying things out.” She shrugged, pulling on Naoto’s arm, and they walked past them into the rental hut. Naoto wriggled to look at her senpai as they passed them; Chie doubling over with laughter, Yosuke trying to splutter out a reply.

Yu, leaning just inside the door frame, flashed them a smile and said, “He’s my friend and all, but Rise…” His trademark thumbs-up showed and he winked at them.

Naoto noticed that she watched him with an edge of hunger. No, not because she actually felt anything whenever they were close to one another; and that still was the problem for her. She tried to will her body to react in a similar way it would around Kanji at times, but nothing happened. Well. A small warm feeling was there, but it was similar to how she felt when sitting with her female senpai in the library or when having lunch with other members of the team. With one exception.

She removed her ski shoes with a happy sigh and glowered at them before slipping into her warm winter boots. Warm, and comfortable and why on earth would anyone want to wear anything else?

Rise had a similar sigh when she struggled free of her own ski shoes, then giggled at her friend, who had stretched out, her feet kicked out in front and her shoulders and back arched. “You look soooo happy right now, Naoto-kun.”

“That is most likely because I have been looking forward to this very moment for most of the afternoon, Rise-san.” Still leaned back, she pushed her chin to her chest and watched her shoes as she wiggled happily hidden toes. “And I have a feeling I will be even more happen when I get to take _this_ footwear off and just let my feet relax once we get home.”

Their female senpai joined them and shared their smiles. “Tonight will call for some serious relaxing,” Chie agreed. “After we eat! Man, I am _starved_.”

“And me; I might actually ignore my diet tonight,” Yukiko put in.

Rise nodded happily. “You should, senpai! It’s not like you really need to watch your weight like that anyhow.” She ran her eyes along the other girl and happily smiled. “You’re really beautiful the way you are; you know that?”

“See, I keep telling her that, but she just won’t listen to me,” Chie complained.

Yukiko looked from one girl to the other, flustered. “N-No, stop it you two.”

The junior Shirogane decided to help her senpai out. “I am feeling quite famished as well. What plans did we have for dinner?” She got to her feet, picked up her rental gear and queued up to return it.

“I don’t even care, so long as there’s enough meat…”

“Of course, Chie,” Yukiko giggled.

“Hey, it’s the best food after exercising!”

“Aw, I wanted to do something fun, like a _fondue_ ,” Rise sighed.

Chie looked interested. “That sounds foreign, what is it?”

“Simplified,” Naoto replied, “it is a small vat of molten cheese and wine, which you scoop from with small bits of toasted bread.”

Yukiko paled visibly. “That… sounds heavy.”

“Quite so.” The blunette took her loaned snow hat off and ruffled her hair. “It is considered a traditional ski dish, I read, along with a similar dish called _raclette_ , where you heat up cheese and pour it over potatoes and meats.” She held up a hand to her senpai to prevent Chie interjecting. “However, the meat is considered a side dish or condiment to the cheese.”

“Aw!”

“But,” she said, turning to her friend with a smile, “we do not need to leave our own roots for a fun and social meal, Rise-san. There are many other options for us all to enjoy some food together. Let’s discuss it when everyone’s together.”

“You’re right, Naoto-kun. Let’s find something everyone will enjoy. I don’t want to have anything that would make someone else feel uncomfortable.”

Naoto nodded at the man taking her rental gear back and waited for her friends. As everyone slowly gathered, she continued from the start for everyone’s benefit.

“Rise-san said she would enjoy a shared, general meal with all of us tonight. I suggested we might wish to go out for a hot pot dish. Some _shabu-shabu_ , perhaps?” The general enthusiasm made her smiled a bit bashfully. “I am sure we could find a restaurant that-“

Kanji cleared his throat and she nodded to him, yielding. “Actually, we could make our own. I read we have cooking stuff in our huts; and I know I have seen a _donabe_ and a small burner for the table. I can whip up the broth in no time, just need a supermarket or somethin’.”

Rise’s eyes lit up. “Some of the famed Tatsumi cooking I have heard rumoured from Naoki-kun?”

At once Kanji felt provoked, much as Naoto would have expected. “Wh-What has he told you?!”

It was she who smiled at him and replied. “I have heard Konishi-kun mention that he has had meals at your home, which beat his own mother’s cooking skills. Mean, at that, which turned out to have been made by you. That seemed like very high praise to me, possibly something that would need to be put to the test before a larger panel…?” She directed her smile at the other teens.

Yu nodded and smiled, while Yosuke eagerly checked his phone. “Totally! Let’s see… yes, there’s a place just down the main road! How about this, us guys go shopping,” Naoto gave him a thankful nod, “and you girls make the hut homey. Sounds good?”

“Sounds perfect! Kanji-kun, you’re the best!” Rise squeaked and threw herself at the very flustered boy, hugging him tightly.

“R-Rise… stop that,” he grumbled, casting glances at his other friends.

As the blue-haired girl looked on, she felt her smile slip.

She envied how open and easily her friend was able to express herself. Joy, sorrow, anger – to Rise they held no weight of any kind, other than something that should be communicated. And not only could she show or mask them at will; she also was able to very quickly decide when to be so… so… unobstructed about conveying herself in a physical way. It was something Naoto had always lacked. Not directly by choice; but, it also was not something that she had ever felt she needed in her repertoire of communicative skills to achieve her one life goal. She had, of course, observed female officers use their comforting nature to their advantage before, but had felt this was not her own approach to matters at hand.

All this said, however, she still wished she could as casually reach out to her friends. If not for the persistent nature of the idol, she would have had fewer occurrences of physical contact in recent months., Indeed, she might have had more embraces, hugs and nuzzles in the last six months, than most of her teens so far. Something that she both appreciated when receiving and envied when easily given. Not that should would ever openly admit to either. Or indeed… that part of her actually wanted either.

Case in point: Rise detached herself from hugging first Kanji, then Yu, and now tackled into her friend with a light laugh. “”Let’s go, girls, we have a hut to prepare!”

 

* * *

 

Wearing a hat most of the time should mean she would be used to the cap she had wearing all day today, but it was a bit too large for her, moved a lot more, and as a result her hair seemed to stand on end any which way since she had pulled it off. Even a quick ruffle with moist hands after she had headed to the bathroom did not seem to get the chaos under control. She looked into the mirror and sighed.

It’s not that she felt particularly vain about her looks. In general, she knew she had tufts of hair sprawling any which way, and the manner in which her hair framed her face felt as much of a lucky co-incidence, as anything else. Her hair just fell and she simply left it alone most of the time after a thorough combing.

But something felt different. She wanted to make sure she looked at least well-kempt tonight.

A pipe dream. No matter how she tried, her hair simply would not look any better than what she had managed to arrange so far. With another sigh, she ran both hands roughly through her hair and turned to leave for the main room.

While the boys had been out shopping, the girls had indeed turned the cold hut into a comfy living space. The fireplace roared a bit too high, she felt, but Chie had insisted to make a large fire. The windows and sliding door to the balcony could always be opened to assist in getting rid of some excess heat.

Right now, Teddie was trying to convince us to simply roast the prepared cabbage over the burner, while Kanji threatened him to roast ‘his damned fur’ if he tried. She chuckled and wandered to the table to sit down and join the ongoing conversation.

“…really impressed me, how quick you picked yourself up after that first fall, Chie,” Yosuke had just said as Naoto pulled out a chair to sit down. She noticed Teddie about to plop down beside her, when Rise loudly called him to the other side of the table for something or other. “I mean, getting up after falling can be kinda difficult the first time.”

Her senpai flashed her a smile and said, “Yeah, I saw Naoto-kun and Kanji-kun had a few problems with that earlier.” She turned to her classmate before Naoto could speak up to defend herself.  “But, really, once you know how to get on your knees, it’s pretty much the same as rolling over on your side when you’re on skies.”

While the small jab at her and Kanji had been there clear as day, the topic ended without any more teasing. Naoto simply crossed her arms and leaned back in her chair, cocking an eyebrow at Chie; who caught her eye and flashed her a wink. She could not help a small smile while shaking her head. Over the past few months, she had gotten used to good-natured teasing. Especially when it came from the other girls it was almost pleasant to sometimes join a quick battle of wits while light-hearted mocking was passed back and forth.

She turned her head and watched Yu and Kanji return to the table with two last large platters of seafood and vegetables. They had been talking and the younger boy appeared thoughtful while their senpai finished what he just said. The older boy placed his plate down, patched the younger’s shoulder gently and sent him to put his own plate down on the other side of the table. Near Rise, across from Naoto. She had noticed him talking to Rise earlier, she had assumed he asked her to save him a seat. Teddie will need to get up and come over to sit beside her soon, which she was actually fine with. He seemed to flirt a lot less often with her or Rise than he did with Chie or Yukiko. Mind, when he did…she shuddered in disgust at the thought.

Naoto watched as he walked across the room, placing the plate down and then looked up at his seat beside Rise. Which was taken. Glancing along the table to where the next open chair was; his eyes fell upon the blue-haired girl and he seemed to freeze. Had she done something? She tried an encouraging smile and gave him a small nod. He flushed for some reason, then let his hand fall heavily on Teddie’s shoulder. “Hey, man, you said you wanted to sit near the girls!”

“But I am, I am sitting right beside Rise-chan!”

Kanji growled. “Yeah, but…” He looked around the table helplessly. “But I needed to sit at one of the ends of the table, man. Long legs, all that!”

Teddie shrugged and Rise helpfully smiled at the boy. “Just have Naoto scoot one seat over, you’ll have the end of that side of the table then.”

Only now Naoto looked around the table herself. The one chair that had remained unoccupied… was right next to her. She remembered Teddie coming over to sit beside her earlier, and also remembered Rise calling him over.

 _Rise-san!_ She snapped her eyes to her friend, who sat almost directly across from her with the brightest smile her idol-self could produce. She flashed her a peace-sign and winked, before speaking up once more.

“Sorry, Kanji-kun, I had stuff I wanted to ask Teddie! You don’t mind if you swap places?”

His open mouth seemed to chew on words, till he snapped it shut and nodded. “Yeah, sure. N-No problem.”

Naoto slipped out of her chair and hopped one over, as Rise had suggested. She even wanted to scoot her chair over a bit, just to give Kanji more space to slip into his own chair, naturally. But… even this would be seen and picked up by Rise. Her eyes flicked up, just in time to see her friend gleefully ignoring Teddie as he chattered at her; watching closely as Kanji was settling in beside Naoto.

As the blue-haired girl continued to glower at the happy face framed by twin tails, she idol flashed her a quick ‘heart’ by pressing her fingers and thumbs together; as well as blowing her a kiss.

Kanji awkwardly turned to the girl beside him. “Hey… sorry ‘bout that.”

She nodded. “This wasn’t your doing.”

“Yeah, still.”

Naoto ran the last few sentences through her mind once more. “And why are you apologizing?”

“Well… I mean…” He blinked, trying to find an explanation – or an excuse, perhaps. “Y-Ya already had to hang out with me all day. Just wanted to make sure yer not bore by me, see?”

 _Yes_ , Naoto thought, _an excuse._ “You are fine company, Tatsumi-kun. It is not a problem for me to be with you.”

She ran that sentence through her mind, too, realizing too late she may have said too much. But if she had, then Kanji obviously did not mind. He just gave her a quick smile and looked at the _donabe_ as it bubbled away. While the silence between them grew, the chatter around them remained, but neither seemed interested in picking up on any of the conversations around them.

Naoto cursed herself for the light, fluttery feeling in the pit of her stomach. Typically, Kanji would do his best to stay at some distance. Tonight would not really offer them to avoid one another, seeing there were no other chairs available and they would be fairly stuck near one another for the time being.

 _My behaviour right now is out-and-out imprudent. Kanji-kun is my friend. My partner. We even have a number of classes together! There should be something that we can talk about together…_ She bit her lip and let her eyes wander over the table. A topic. Any topic. Anything at all…

“So, ah… d’ya like _shabu_ , or did Rise bully you into this?”

 _Thank you, Kanji-kun_. “I do not have it frequently; only went I go out for it explicitly, since I am living on my own. But I actually do very much relish it, yes. It is a meal shared by friends or family; in my book, our gathering fills both of these options.”

His head snapped towards her. “F-Family?” he stuttered.

Naoto silently nodded, making sure to not show her light flush at the admission.

From the corner of her eye, she saw he nodded after a moment and smiled, pointing at the two large earthenware pots bubbling before them. “Th-Tha’s great, because I made two broths. I didn’t know we had three _donabe_ sittin’ around in the kitchen, but three seemed a lot for jus’ us eight. An’ Rise begged, so one of ‘em has chili oil and stuff in it, an’ the other is a simple dashi-and-miso base.”

Her eyes lit up as she listened. “You went into a fair bit of trouble for us, Tatsumi-kun.”

“Heh,” he gave his neck a rub and smiled at the table for a moment, “’s nothin’ special, really. Really. I just taught myself because ‘s real easy to make on weekends, when Ma closes up the shop early and we get to sit down for dinner longer.”

She nodded and turned to face him, placing the elbows of her crossed arms on the table. “That sounds like it might be a nice respite from a long working week. You are very thoughtful, Tatsumi-kun.”

As always when she addressed him properly, his eyes dulled for a moment, but his smile returned quickly. “What about you, do you eat it often when yer back home?”

“Not really, no. My grandfather and I generally enjoy shared meals, of course, but both he and I have been working a lot in the last four years; so it actually takes considerable effort for the two of us to enjoy a sit-down meal of any nature.” She glanced at the pot. “And, well, for only one person, _shabu_ is actually a sad meal. I feel it each time I go out to treat myself.”

“Sad?” he asked her softly. He now leaned on one arm, facing her fully, his free hand reaching for his drink.

“Well… maybe not normally or maybe not for other people.” She turned to look back at him. “But seeing I connect it in my mind from personal experience as something of a shared experience which you would have with at least one other person, consuming it on my own feels very lonesome, you see?”

His eyes turned to one of the plates holding leafy greens and different seafood. “Yeah,” he mumbled, “I think I get it.”

Her own gaze turned to the same plate and she wondered if her comments might have upset him. If this is a meal he commonly enjoys with his mother, he might be thinking of her. Deep inside he is a very considerate and kind boy, so leaving her, if only for a weekend, may be infrequent and especially hard for him.

She took a breath to continue their conversation, when Teddie pipped up. “This one’s boiling! I want to put mussels in now!”

The short blonde leaned to reach over the table, but Rise pulled him back down. “Hey, manners, Teddie! Someone pass us the plate, please!”

Not thinking, both Kanji and Naoto reached for the plate they had been looking at and their fingers tangled as they tried to lift the plate. As if burned, both jerked back. Naoto cleared her throat and recovered quickly, lifting the plate to pass it across to Teddie. “Here you go.” She cocked an eyebrow and lifted a finger at Rise in a ‘Don’t you dare’-motion.

When she shifted her attention back to the tall boy beside her, Kanji gingerly reached for her bowl and filled it with rice, giving her am embarrassed smile. “Here ya go.”

“Thank you…”

All around them their friends started to add vegetables, meats and different kinds of seafood to the roiling boil inside the pots; effectively reducing the heat quickly down to a high simmer. Conversation picked back up after a moment. Conversation was happily bubbling alongside the two pots while the friends picked out their morsels and started to nibble.

Naoto picked out some cabbage and two large shrimp before settling back down. She had selected the traditional and milder stock base and smiled at Kanji as he leaned past her to reach the pot. On impulse she laid her hand against his side and steadied him as he seemed to try and knock Teddie’s chopsticks away from some _enoki_ the shorter blonde tried to steal from the pot. The moment she realised what she was doing, it was too late to simply jerk back from him, so she held on to his side until he sat down and they shared an embarrassed nod.

Laughing and joking, everyone tried their food. Yu blinked, his mouth full of food, and shot Kanji a smile along with this trademark ‘thumbs-up’ while he was still chewing. One by one, their friends turned to Kanji to compliment him. Especially Yukiko seemed interested in knowing more.

“The broth we serve at the inn is similar, but … I don’t know, it tastes ‘less’?”

Kanji chuckled and swallowed the food in his mouth. “Your stock is too thin. Either your chef does not simmer it long enough, or he is skipping something really basic, like good kombu – but I doubt it’s as simple as that. I’ll give it a try sometime and let you know if I can give feedback, if ya like.”

Naoto watched him accept praise with much more ease these days. A smile played across her lips as she listened to him explain how he had prepared both stocks; even being surprised at his admission that the ‘spicy’ broth was made by adding a block of very hot curry roux. A shortcut, he called it, but everyone seemed surprised that it was as simple as that.

He seemed in his element and his shy nature seemed to dissolve in the honest praise of his friends. He was very enticing like this… and the girl quickly decided she needed to focus her thoughts on something else.

The food was good, and as she had previously explained, the fun part about a _shabu_ -meal was the companionship. Even a bad meal could be enjoyed, so long as it was shared with friends. The one problem here was that she kept being drawn away from her food and tempted to watch Kanji. Knowing her friends, this would not go unnoticed unless she actively corrected her behaviour.

As such, while she enjoyed her food, she let her eyes and ears wander from conversation to conversation. Rise and Teddie were quite obviously trying to observe her own interaction with Kanji, a matter she quickly attempted to shut down and subsequently ignore. Teddies childish gestures of ‘kissie-faces’ and similar gesturing made it easy to not wanting to observe the two. Moving along, there was Chie sitting beside Yu, having an animated discussion about the thinly sliced beef and pork belly offered with the food. He insisted just now the pork could have used a quick roasting first; while she insisted that would have removed too much of the flavour. Naoto smirked, understanding that by ‘flavour’, her senpai meant _fat_. This was also understood by Yukiko, who, sitting between Yosuke and the blue-haired detective, mentioned she was happy that they had also brought sea food and tofu, so she was not going to impact her diet too much.

Everyone enjoyed themselves. Everyone was chatting with the people around them or near them.

Then there was she herself. Naoto turned her thoughts inward, trying to avoid getting drawn into the conversations around her. And even while specifically attempting to avoid Kanji Tatsumi, it still kept happening that her focus was drawn to him. Not that she would not have expected it, sitting right beside one another in close proximity like they were. Now and again they reached for the same bowl, or tried to fish the same morsel from the _nabe_ ; other times she would surface to a joke someone else told and she would laugh, turning towards her seat neighbour to share the jollity.

What made all her rationalising and all her need to lock the boy out of her emotional horizon; was what she saw in his eyes whenever he was unguarded as well.

Of course she knew. She had known for some time. Not noticing what he felt for her would have requires severe brain trauma at this point. Kanji… He _liked_ her. It was that raw emotion she saw reflected in his eyes every time she smiled at him, that made her stomach tie itself into knots and urge her to flee.

But just as much as she felt the urge to run… she needed to admit that what it was she attempted to run from truely was her own hormone-addled brain. She _wanted_ him to win her. Not even on a deep-and-dark or well-hidden subconscious. She _wanted_ him to confess his attraction, _wanted_ him to tell her frankly very embarrassing emotional details. She needed him to, because she herself could not take that step on her own.

Without his approach on the matter, she felt that she had only place she could retreat to. That one place she had learned over the years she could depend on – her logical mind.

They were worlds apart, all things considered.

Where his future was likely to hold being a master tailor (his craftsmanship with needle and yarn really did not make her doubt he would be anything short of that!), inheriting Tatsumi-ya. He would be a respected member of the traditional Inaba community. He was starting to form into that role more each and every day. To remove him from Inaba would be to uproot him in ways that she could not easily picture.

And then there was her own path in life. She was the fifth of the Shirogane family line. Trained to be a detective for most of her life at this point. Willing, no, _eager_ to not only carry on the Shirogane name and traditions, but to build on them. Take on the methods she had been educated in directly by her Grandfather. Add to those what she learned from reading the records of her parents. And _then_ add to them, modernise them, advance the Shirogane method into a world in which footsteps may be genetic or digital.

Their lives had their maps already present in a rough format, and overlap was minimal.

 _Surely maps can be redrawn_ , a voice deep inside her mind purred as she turned to pass Kanji the plate of food he had asked for. _Surely nothing is already so finite and set in stone that you could not approach him? You are just sixteen and fifteen years old at this point._

She swallowed, turning her eyes back on her food. A small nudge to her foot made her look up. Rise looked at her, her left eyebrow raised; then turned to Kanji, switching to raising the right eyebrow; and back to the junior detective again. Her question was an obvious one. Naoto’s answer was just as clear; rolled eyes and a shook head.

It cannot work. It would not work. …why should it?

Admitting to herself, here and now, that romance simply was not possible and would never lead very far - that was the only responsible thing to do. Fewer hurt feelings. Much less embarrassment on both sides. All she needed to do was hold on, not give in to the feelings that tried to win her and not confirm his feelings. If she managed that, then they both would be better off in the long run.

She stood, placing a few mussels into the broth.

“Oh, add some for me, Naoto, would ya?”

She nodded and smiled warmly. “Of course, Tatsumi-kun.”

They certainly would be better off. She just needed to keep reminding herself of that.

 

* * *

 

After their dinner, everyone helped cleaning up, and the girls insisted on doing most of the work. Rise loudly declared, “You boys cooked for us, our pride demands that we do this!” before walking away with a stack of used bowls.

“I’m jus’ sayin’, leave the _nabe_ standing till they cool off. You’ll crack ‘em if ya cool them off too fast, Rise!”

She waved Kanji’s protest away and nudged Naoto into the kitchen. Their female senpai were already washing the dishes and Naoto quickly picked up a tea towel to help dry the washed plates and bowls; making space for more to be washed.

With this many hands, the chore was very swiftly done and everyone met back by the couches in the large central space of their hut. Relaxed chatter about the woods surrounding them turned into ghost stories and Naoto, much to her chagrin, had to admit she spooked easily about such matters. A little as ghost stories were bound to fact, there often were unexplained phenomena and while it could not be _proven_ … it also could not be _disproven_ – and that was what made such stories worrisome to her.

After Teddie thankfully disrupted that dubious form of entertainment, the friends quickly found they were losing focus. Sleep became a matter that couldn’t be ignored any longer and after Yu had to wake up Chie and Yukiko twice, Yosuke suggested everyone should turn in, so we could enjoy the slopes as early as possible tomorrow.

While that held little interest to Naoto, sleep did sound good. She stood and stripped off the loaned sweater.

She had barely pulled it away from her arms, when Kanji caught her elbow, giving her an intense – and somewhat flushed – stare. “The heck you doin’? P-Put that back on right now!”

“This was only a loan, Ka- …Tatsumi-kun.” She swallowed, quickly glancing at him. The slip had not gone unnoticed and she watched as he shivered for a moment. “My apologies.”

“…yeah… no need.” His hand did not move and her arms remained stuck in his sweater. “Why ya train’a take it off?”

“One would think this is obvious. You’ll be cold without it.”

He shrugged. “Na, I'm always toasty. I told you.”

Naoto glanced at the others, thankful that so far no one had taken any notice. She turned her eyes to stare straight ahead… at Kanji’s chest. “But… I feel the chill,” she mumbled, “you must be cold…”

“Yeah, I knew _you’d_ feel cold, ya dumbass.” She looked up and saw his fond smile. “An’ that’s why you have my sweater, right?”

She did not turn her head when she heard the giggle. Rise. The pitch made it near-impossible to have been anyone else. “I do not wish to inconvenience you, Tatsumi-kun.”

“No, really.” He let her arm go, but still did not move away from her. “Please, keep it.”

She glanced sideways, flushing furiously as she watched Rise, Chie and Yukiko watching them from the corner of her eye. She knew she would be hearing about this once she turned in to the girl’s room. She gave it one last attempt. “I will return it when we leave.”

He finally stepped and, shrugging. “’kay, but till then just hold on to it. I won't need it, promise. Okay?”

Naoto glanced up and him, gazed at the floor and nodded.

“Alright. Cool. …uhm.”

“Yes. Well. Goodnight, Tatsumi-kun.”

“Yeah. G‘night.”

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am very sorry my writing has slowly down do much. My dear old laptop finally iss dying on me. I'll continue to write as time and my PC permit, but it'll be less frequent until I can get this sorted out.
> 
> Sorry everyone, but don't worry, story isn't abandoned - none of the ongoing ones are. :3


	6. Night and Day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sleep is not easily had when you worry about what signs and impulses you might and or trigger. And when your best friend just won't understand why the first possibly reaction may not always be the best, it makes things so much harder.

_“That was an amazing dinner,” groaned Yosuke as he slid back against the couch. “Seriously, Kanji, you need to take care of all team food in the future.”_

_There was a clank from the kitchen and Chie poked her head out, brandishing a dish towel. “Are you trying to say something, Hanamura?”_

_“Only that I won’t die of food poisoning in the night, Satonaka,” he shot back with a smirk._

_Naoto sighed and smiled, laying a hand on the shoulder of her senpai as she entered the kitchen with a small stack of dipping dishes. “Let him talk, Chie-senpai,” she said softly, “you_ know _he only does it to provoke you.”_

_The sporty girl glared at the boy once more, then turned around sharply and took the next washed bowl   from Rise. “Well, I wish he’d just quit it. There’s no reason for him to always be this rude.”_

_Smiling at her senior, Naoto took the next bowl from Rise. “I do agree; however, the meal indeed was quite outstanding. Thank you for suggesting it, Rise-san.”_

_“Hey, this was all Kanji.“ There was a beat of quiet before the idol continued. “Man, he is such a good chef, I bet if anyone would date him, he’d cook for them all the time.”_

_From the corner of her eye, Naoto saw how the other girl’s smirk grew as she spoke and let the comment dangle like a waiting noose. The junior detective turned her head and gave her a flat look._

_“You know. He would_ love _to be on the back and call of_ anyone _who would want to_ date him _.”_

_If possible, Naoto Shirogane’s glance at her friend would have turned two-dimensional._

_“Especially if that_ someone _was to not be able to cook much themselves because they are always busy_ investigating stuff _.” At this point the twin-tailed smirk finally turned to face her fully, looking away from washing the dishes._

_Just as Naoto took a breath to give her retort, a lightly laughing Yukiko interrupted her. “You are not exactly being sub-buttle here, Rise-chan…”_

_Even Chie wore a smirk. “Yeah, give it a rest, Rise, meddling isn’t what these two need.”_

_“We do not- I mean,_ I _do not n-“ Naoto bit off her words and gave a grunt. Hiding her face by turning her back on the three girls, Naoto roughly dried the small bundle of chopsticks she had grabbed. As she looked up, her gaze fell on Kanji, hunched forward on the couch, his brow pulled low as he watched Teddy unpack snacks._

That had been several hours ago now.

Naoto lay on her stomach in the bed she shared with Rise. Her idol friend had rolled over in her sleep a while ago and now an arm pressed lightly across the slightly older girls’ shoulders. She felt movement and when Naoto turned her head, she saw the other girl’s fingers twitch in her sleep. Turning to face her again, small smile ghosted across the girl’s lips and she mumbled ‘Senpai’ in her dreams.

Lifting her head just a little bit, she saw her two female senpai snuggled up in a similar fashion.

When they had arrived at the hut, they had discovered three rooms with two beds each – and an immediate argument broke out between the guys over who would sleep on which couch because they did not have enough beds. Yukiko and Chie had been the first to point out that all they needed was two people share a bed to even out the issue. Rise delighted in the idea and proposed she and Yu-senpai could share.

In her outrage, Naoto cast about the suddenly silent room for someone to express the thoughts on how absurd the idea was… only to lock gazes with Kanji. She was certain what went through his mind, as his eyes widened and his face flushed… but she also very much recalled her own mind stepping forward to agree with Rise and boldly suggest she could… with Kanji-

The young Shirogane pinched her eyes shut.

As it stood, the girls agreed they had the least problems with physical closeness: and even Rise agreed after a few half-hearted arguments for spending the night with her crush that snuggling up with a Prince was nearly as good. Naoto huffed. Rise had made a point of driving that notion home with Kanji for nearly a minute, repeating variations of the subject of physical clones to her person, before Naoto had had enough and excused herself.

And now she rested in her bed, unable to sleep. Not even the soft breathing beside her, or the warm arm across her body managed to lull her in. Her body did yearn for rest. She felt sore from the days’ activities and after both dinner and snacks, she also felt nicely filled. The room was cool; the bed was warm. Everything seemed perfectly aligned for a wonderful night’s sleep - if not for her thoughts repeatedly looping back in time.

The meal had indeed been very enjoyable, and not least of all due to Kanji-kun’s cooking. He had always applied himself to such matters far more than she had; the result of this being that his care and attention to detail shone through everything he touched. Well. Provided it was not academic. And provided he had at least a basic interest.

A smile ghosted across her face as she thought of him and his habits.  

Rise shifted against her and her smile melted, being replaced by heated self-consciousness.

She had struggled in the past weeks to come to terms with the… the faintly lingering interest she felt towards the young tailor. And her evening procedure had grown into an elaborate ritual of listing to herself why the interest was foolish, why the notion was foolish, why _she_ was foolish. On most days in the past weeks, that had been all that was needed to shut Kanji Tatsumi from her mind for the night.

The way the day had progressed and with how she and her friends spend the evening, her mantra simply would not line up as neatly as they had in the past weeks.

Naoto reached up to the arm draped over her and gave Rise’s hand a soft squeeze. “I need a drink,” she said softly, “my apologies.”

Rise mumbled a reply, but pulled back, turning over.  Naoto was certain Rise had not even fully woken from the interaction.

The blunette slipped out of the bed and softly opened and closed the door to their bedroom. Fully pre-occupied with her own thoughts; she went shuffling to the kitchen, filled a glass with water and returned to the living room.  

“Nao-chan~” she heard someone drawl very quietly.

She stopped in her tracks and slowly turned to the voice. _Not a ghost. There are no evil spirits here._

Teddy sat bundled up in a blanket before the fireplace and smiled at her. “Teddy,” she replied softly and with a good measure of relief as she walked towards him, “what are you still doing awake?”

“I don’t really sleep all that much.” He smiled and produced a mug from under the blanket, rising it in a toast. “I guess Shadows don’t sleep much?”

“I guess they would not,” she agreed and sat her glass of water down on the low table before tucking herself into the corner of the couch.  “You must feel lonely, being awake like this in the nights.”

“Lonely?” The boy-shadow hummed to himself. “No. This is my bear-y important task every night. When I don’t help at the Junes loading docks at night and oversee the new stock coming in; I watch TV or go on the internet at night. Really, really quiet. So I can keep an eye on the house while everyone sleeps. I keep everyone safe while they are off to dreamland!”

His infectious smile turned the corner of her own lips up slowly. “I am sure we are in very good hands thanks to your care and protection, Teddy. But there is no TV in this hut and I found internet reception to be spotty at best. You must be bored.”

“No, this is actually really great.” He turned away from her and pointed at the fireplace. “We don’t have anything like this at Yosuke’s place. I like watching it. And it’s so warm. It makes remembering the day nice. I’m having so much fun with everyone, I wanna make sure I’ll remember all of it!”

Naoto turned to watch the dying fire. “Indeed?”

“M-hm!” He turned and patted the spot beside him with a winning smile and a tentative sparkle. “Won’t you join me, Nao-chan?”

Naoto shook her head and made to get up, reaching for her glass. “It is late. I should be trying to sleep.”

“Aw. Kanji-chan said the same thing.”

 “Kanji-kun?” She stopped, her hand nearly touching her glass.

“Yes! He was here only a few minutes ago. Said he couldn’t sleep. But he wouldn’t tell me why, the meanie.”

Naoto swallowed and slowly turned her head towards the door of Kanji’s room. As she looked on, she saw it move a faction and heard it click shut. He must have been watching.

 _There goes the rest of my night_ , she sighed to herself.

“I-I see. Well. I should… I should try to sleep. Have a good night, Teddy.”

“G’night, Nao-chan!” He smiled at her once more, then turned back to the fireplace.

The girl stood and walked with her glass into the kitchen. She drank it in one go; then refilled it and took it back with her.

As she walked back to try and find some rest; she slowed beside the young tailor’s room and gently pressed her fingertips to his door. “Goodnight,” she said softly, turned towards it. The young detective hesitated, wishing she would hear him say it back to her, but then shook her head at that fancy.

Absorbed in her own thoughts as she walked away, Naoto failed to notice the door open a faction as she moved on.

Climbing back into her shared bed, she noticed how her friend opened her eyes sleepily and smiled at her. “Hey, Naoto-kun,” she said drowsily.

“Did I wake you up, Rise-san? I am sorry.”

The other girl made a dismissive sound. “You’re fine. Where’d you go?”

“I was thirsty. I went for a glass of water.”

“Oh. Good idea, actually…”

“Would you like some of mine?” Naoto offered her friend the glass and settled in while Rise sat up.

“Thank you, Naoto-kun.” She drank a few sips, then handed the glass back. “What time is it?”

“I believe it is sometime around three in the morning.”

With a muffled groan, Rise dug herself back into the blanket. “ ‘s way too early, Naoto-kun,” she whined, “come back and sleep.”

 _Wish it was that simple, Rise-san…_ Naoto thought as she slipped back into her blankets.

As she turned to hug her pillow back under her chin, she felt her idol friend slide closer and an arm was draped back over her shoulders.

Her mind remained trapped in the storm that was her thoughts trying to make sense of this day. Kanji’s guidance, his actions to coach her. The moments of unplanned closeness throughout. It was like an unseen force kept trying to push them towards one another; and no matter how much she tried to escape the pull of their attraction- he just kept being drawn near. She shivered, and it had nothing to do with the temperature; Rise warmed her with her proximity, after all.

No, the problem was another entirely.

 _Kanji Tatsumi._ She sighed once more.

He used to simply be a mystery. Something to be examined and to be added to the folders and files in her mind. She had memorized his biometrics long before they had first spoken, back when she still wondered if he would be the next in a series of victims. Knew his habits better than the boy himself possibly did. She knew his mother’s habits and actions as well. Not for the first time she wondered if Kanji knew how much his mother loves him, or if he realized how much she wished for him to have friends.

She also keenly remembered the sharp sting to her heart when she watched his mother very directly ‘hint’ to her son that Yukiko Amagi was not spoken for and how nice she had always been, what a refined girl she was and how happy she was to welcome her any time she stopped by for a visit.

That memory once more underlined to the young Shirogane that her advances, even though the boy was possibly more than just _interested_ in her companionship, were not meant to be.

She turned her head and buried her face into the fluffy pillow, feeling her breathing slow down as she forced air in and out of her lungs through the featherdown.

Before long, both Kanji’s mother and the parents of Yukiko Amagi may just take fate into their own hands. If she held out until then without the deeply enticing effect the boy had on her; without giving in to the pull which emanated from the young tailor … maybe the cold, hard facts of an arranged marriage between her two team mates would clear her mind up and direct his interest elsewhere.

Brooding over things that she had no control over; Naoto tried to keep reminding herself of the possible and the impossible until she finally managed to fall asleep.

 

* * *

 

“Look, Naoto, ‘m right here! Let’s go!”

The distance was maybe twenty meters at most. The slope barely made him speed up when he turned his front to watch her as Kanji slid downhill backwards. There was frankly no reason whatsoever for her to still hesitate!

“Y-Yes… here… here I go…”

Naoto shifted her feet, changed her weight forward and clutched her grip on her ski poles as if she was clinging to a piece of flotsam in the middle of the ocean.

Her eyes glued to her feet, she heard the tall boy call out, “Look up, look at me!”

With a fearful shiver, Naoto yanked her head up and looked for the boy.

 _He had moved! Oh no, he is moving! He is skiing backwards!_ “N-No, Kanji, wait, please wait!”

“Yer doin’ great, Naoto! Yer doin’ it! Come on, keep going, lift your poles!”

His happy, encouraging smile was hard to miss, even though her eyes teared up from the brightness of the snow and her own worries of falling. Skiing injuries always involved severe matters. Broken bones. Dislocated joints. Snapped ligaments and torn muscle!

Fear shut her down once more and she tensed up. Her eyes shut tightly as she slumped, her poles dragging in the snow behind her. She did not want this. She just… did not want any of this!

“Hey… hey!”

With a thud she collided with someone. Someone smelling of sandalwood and leather. In shame, Naoto let her head thud against Kanji’s chest. “I am… I am just too afraid of this, Kanji-kun.”

“Nonsense.” She lifted her head at the same smile in his voice and she hesitantly looked up at him. He had pushed up his snow glasses and beamed. “Look! Ya did it!” He pointed back up the hill excitedly.

Clinging to him, Naoto turned her upper body to look back, and her eyes widened. They must have gone at least three hundred meters from where they had started out from.

“An’ yer never fell or anythin’!”

She turned back and sighed. “But in the end, I gave up.” She leaned her head forward again, hiding her blush against his jacket.

The boy chuckled and rubbed his hand over her back. “Yer tired, Naoto, else we’d have gone all the way down together already.”

Suddenly snow sprayed over them in a wave and Naoto squeaked as snow went down her neck. She heard Kanji roar at someone as she tried to move her bulky clothing out of the way to get the snow out.

A warm hand suddenly dove down her neck and fished out a few lumps of snow. The detective froze and looked up at the young tailor. Kanji was still turned away from her; heaping abuse on someone who had long-since moved away.

“Hold still, Naoto-kun,” a high-pitched giggle said beside her, “let me get that… there, I think that was most of it. You really need to close your collar up tighter.”

With a sigh of relief, Naoto breathed, “Oh, Rise-san! T-Thank you.”

At her words, Kanji shifted and pushed himself further away from her suddenly, nearly knocking the both of them over. “R-Rise! Shit, where’d you come from?!”

The girl giggled and flashed them a peace-sign. “Hiya, how are you two holding up? I saw Naoto ski a long way down all by herself just now, so I wanted to come cheer you on for the rest of the way down!”

“Yes. Well.” Naoto reached for her hat to pull it lower, noticed it would not hide her blush and stopped, opting to instead glare at her friend. As she was trying to move her hand to her hip in her practiced Now-Listen-Here pose, she lost her footing and one ski slid forward. Before she could even react, Kanji turned at the hip, bend one knee and stopped her leg from shooting away from under her.

Her twin-tailed friend smirked, looking from one of her friends to the other. She shifted, leaning closer towards the boy, and started to speak in a terribly fake stage-whisper. “Man, Kanji, it’s really too bad you said it wouldn’t be right for girls and boys to share a bad. Your Prince is _real_ warm at night-”

“Rise-san!”

“-like, it was almost too warm being under the same blanket with her-“

“Rise, damnit, shut your face!”

“-and she is so-“

“Enough!” two voices chorused over the steady chatter.

Rise pouted for a moment, but then a knowing smile flashed over her features. “Alright, maybe I’ll just tell you all about it later, Kanji-kun, when Naoto isn’t as busy being held up by you.”

Two pairs of eyes widened and Rise smirked as her friends turned to look at one another before scrambling into action to separate once more. Naoto tried to push herself back from the boys’ hold at the same time he jerked away from her. The result was a loss of balance and Naoto found herself being caught by the resident idol with a delighted titter.

“Oh man, you two are just too adorable! Here, Naoto, take your poles and push them deeper in the snow… got it? I’ll let go now!”

The detective found her footing again and shoot another glare at Rise, before giving the tall boy beside them an embarrassed smile. “I-I am sorry for my clumsiness.”

“Na, yer… w-we’re cool, it’s nothing.”

Naoto found it hard to keep his gaze, looked at her feet, then looked back up at his mildly blushing face. “Thank you for helping me learn.”

“Yeah. I mean, no, ‘s no biggie. Yer doin’ real good here.”

Naoto failed to notice how the moment of silence stretched on. Failed to notice how she started to share a shy smile with Kanji. And failed to remember they had an audience.

She was reminded of the last of these facts, when she suddenly felt Rise grasp her arm with both of her hands excitedly. "Oh my god... Naoto, we need to talk!"

The cobalt-haired girl blinked and gave the excitedly bobbing twin tails beside her a confused look before her eyes focused on her friend’s face. “P-Pardon, Rise-san?”

“Excuse us, Kanji,” Rise happily babbled, “Girl moment, please get lost for a few!”

“I, what?!”

She flapped her hands at him in a shooing movement. “Go, go! I’ll look after your Prince; I just need a minute!”

“Wait- But- She’s not _my Prince_ , Rise, and-and Naoto hates that nickname!”

The blunette felt Rise’s grip tighten on her arm and shook her head gently. “It… I will be all right, Kanji-kun. Just for a minute. Go to our next check point, I’ll get to you on my own.”

“If yer sure…”

Kanji gave both girls a last look; worried in Naoto’s case, threatening in Rise’s, and turned away to ski down about fifty meters where he stopped, crossing his arms, watching the girls.

Rise, however, did not even wait that long. Hopping on her skies to turn and face her, she very gently touched Naoto’s shoulder. “Naoto… Oh my gosh, Naoto!”

The young Shirogane had been watching Kanji leave them and now turned a small frown on her friend. “You are behaving very particular, Rise-san.”

"Did you finally notice him?!”

The question struck her like a sledgehammer. She felt her mouth drop open; felt how her body tried to lean away from her friend. “Wh-What are you- I have… I have no idea what you are implying.” She tried to look away, but the hand on her shoulder tightened again and she turned to look back at her friend.

Rise dropped her shoulders and tilted her head with a disappointed sigh. “Oh, _come_ now…”

Naoto moved her lips in an impotent attempt to find a way of rebuking her friend’s suggestion. Her mouth felt dry and she found herself unable to bring forth any words.

“Listen, you turn around right now, look at him, and say again you have no clue what I mean!”

“Wh-What? Do not be ridiculous, Rise-san. That is… that is just so childish, no!” To underline her protest, she shifted, making sure he was fully outside her field of vision.

“Naoto.”

The girl lifted her gaze to look at her friend. Her only true friend, if she was being honest. As close as she may have been with anyone else… Rise Kujikawa understood her… and she in turn felt she could give her support in a way no one else was able to. Right now, in this snowy slope, her friends’ voice suddenly seemed quiet and intense, something that did not happen all too frequently. And yet, even to her, Naoto did not wish to admit to the butterflies in her stomach. “This is… foolish. There is no… what I mean is… No. Rise-san, Kanji-kun is waiting and I really should-“

“Come on. Just do it. Do this for yourself, if not for me.”

“This is utterly ridiculous, Rise-san,” Naoto muttered before turning to gaze down the slope.

Kanji looked back at them. His entire body language spoke of unease; much as if he was itching to run up to them; similar to how he appeared when he tried to guard her in the TV world. She frowned, wondering what Rise was trying to prove here.

“You see him? He’s watching you. He always is, you know~”

And that comment was which triggered all her neatly stowed away thoughts from last night yet again. Naoto felt her frown melt, her back straightening as she leaned forward slightly, and she felt warmth rush to her face again.

“I knew it,” Rise squeaked happily beside her, “oh, wow, Naoto-kun, you are _totally_ into him! You have got to tell him! You have no idea; he's been waiting so long!”

Glancing down, Naoto pinched her eyes shut. “I know full well, Rise-san.”

“You… then why-?”

“Because I have no time for entanglements. Because I would not be good for him. Because I could never make him happy. Because,” she murmured, opening her eyes to regard her confused friend, “because a million other reasons, and more.”

“But… Naoto-kun…” The other girl helplessly shrugged and pointed downhill. “I just saw how you reacted. You… you do like him, don’t you?”

“That alone may simply not be enough. We are on the threshold to adulthood, Rise-san. Being responsible about our actions is a necessity. We cannot simply run away from some core truths and facts. And while being near him may be… somewhat attractive, I admit, the fact of the matter is that someone like Yukiko-senpai would be a much more logical fit. Someone to stay in Inaba with him. Someone more steady than I can be.” Her voice trailed off and she closed her eyes, fighting her own composure.

Her friend sounded subdued as well when said whispered, “But I think you’d be great together…”

Their moment was interrupted when a cheerful voice spoke up behind them. “Hey how are you… two… hey, are you alright?” Naoto and Rise turned to see Yu pull up his snow glasses and frown at them. “You look like a pair of kittens in the rain.”

Rise, as so often, was the first to recover. Her idol-smile turned back on and she side-stepped closer to their leader. “Senpai! You aren’t trying to listen in on girl talk, are you?”

Naoto found a smile and added, “I am not sure he is quite as roguish as that, Rise-san.”

The grey-haired boy gave them both a warm smile and lifted his hands in a defensive way. “Listening in on an idol with paparazzi-connections and a world-class detective? I’m not crazy!”

The three chuckled and Yu leaned to one side to wave down the slope. “Is that Kanji? He looks upset…”

“Oh, yeah, we kinda bumped him out earlier. He’s possibly grumpy about being left alone.”

“Rise, why don’t you go ahead with him? I want to talk to Naoto for a bit, you guys have been hogging her and I have yet to get any time with her.”

Rise shot him a pout. “But you said we would do the slope once more!”

“Go with Kanji, I bet he would like to blow off some steam after waiting for you two. Naoto and I will be fine. We will just walk a bit.”

She gave them both a long stare, huffed and turned. She looked over her shoulder with a wink and said, “Only because it is you two. I’ll see you in a bit!” With that, she carefully turned and started her way downhill towards Kanji.

Naoto watched Rise and Kanji join up when she heard their leader’s voice behind her. “Unless you wanted to hang out a bit longer with him, Naoto?”

“N-No… this is actually a good idea. I am sorry, we have hardly had any time together this weekend.” The junior Shirogane turned a smile at her senpai. “Let us take these infernal boards from our feet and walk a bit. I am willing to wager my toes are numb again and walking would feel wonderful.”


	7. Alone with Senpai

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Maybe all of this focussing on Kanji recently is just keeping her attention away from other, much more viable options. When Yu asks her to take a walk with him, Naoto's thoughts to the the possibilities which this could present.

Yu and Naoto had been tracking through the wooded hiking paths for some time, their chats going from topic to topic. Once or twice, Yu tried to move their conversation to Kanji, or why the girls had looked so gloomy and each time Naoto deflected the subject to another one entirely. She knew that their leader noticed - he was neither dim, nor did she miss the disapproving glance he gave her whenever she dragged out a new topic of conversation.

In truth, Naoto would simply prefer to simply talk to him about life. If possible, his own life - and preferably his love life.

Her pondering on the matter was simple: Kanji and her thoughts about him were dangerous; as were the feelings bubbling up inside of her whenever he spend any length of time near. In addition, it was as she had explained to Rise. Theirs was not a connection that should be. 

Oh, certainly, to her hormone-addled brains it sounded perfectly logical: She likes him, he likes her, all is well. Either one of them confessing would possibly result in the proverbial angel's choir, blushes, and more confessions and... and then? Nothing of substance could possibly spring from such a fervently shared and intense infatuation.

Someone like Yu, and she had been thinking this before, would be a much better match for her in life. He was not chained to a small, rural town. He was from the city himself. He knew his way around the world and would offer the mix of flexibility and steadfast resolve she would need in a future partner.

Logical thinking dictated all of this.

Logic would underline her interest in him as not merely admiration, if only she could frame it right.

However, these thoughts would not lead anywhere so long as she felt this chilled. Thinking was frankly starting to become complicated. Naoto shuddered hard.

"Yeah, me too, Naoto," Yu mumbled beside her. She looked up at the boy and for the first time noticed how dark it had gotten. While it could not have been that late yet; it was winter and the sun set early. And with the sun down, a chilly wind had started to rise. "We should make our way back to the hut."

She nodded and looked around. The junior detective did not see a single path marker near her.

Or hear anyone on the slopes, for that matter.

On, indeed, see the _lighting_ of the slopes. They did illuminate them for the night, did they not?

"Senpai, I am not sure I remember where to turn from here." She pulled out her phone and flicked it open. Nothing. "No bars."

"Mine’s all dead, I spent too much time taking pictures," Yu admitted sheepishly.

She chuckled. "At least you will have fond memories of the day’s events then. The path ahead forks. Which way should we go from here?"

Without hesitation, he pointed to the right.

"Very well." Trusting his sense of direction, Naoto shouldered her skies once more and shifted her poles into the other hand. "Let us be off."

They had walked quietly for some time, shivering now and again, when he spoke up softly. "Are you all right, Naoto?" She simply nodded. Yu turned to look at her beside him. "You don’t _seem_ all right."

"I am merely cold and tired." She walked for about half a minute before adding, "And somewhat worried. This path was not cleared in some time. The snow is quite deep."

"I noticed that, too." He pursed his lips and looked over his shoulder. "Still, at least we're moving forward. Let's keep going."

Naoto nodded took refuge in her thoughts again.

The sudden rush her mind seemed to have frustrated her. There was no real need to find _any_ partner. Grampa never re-married after he lost his wife, long before Naoto was born. Detective Dojima never selected another partner after his own loss. Both of these strong, admirable men chose their careers over a partner. Not having a partner at all before ever considering children seemed like it might be an actual advance over other options. All she needed to do was simply remain by herself.

Although there was the problem of the _emotional hunger,_ which being around Kanji Tatsumi had kindled in her. Never once before had she sought to seek out companionship, especially not from someone of her own age or to couple off for biological urges. She had thought herself above such foolish desires, having managed to reach her sixteenth birthday easily without such cravings. Knowing that these yearnings would ease up and seemingly reset whenever she spent any considerable amount of time around the young man – it really was too disconcerting to spend a lot of her mental energy on.

It appeared that fighting the sudden need to be in companionship could not be killed or throttled; her last few weeks had proven this. Instead, maybe she could redirect these urges. If the opportunity arose, perhaps she could kindle the beginnings of something with Narukami-senpai.

Although she had time right now, Naoto found she did not have the energy to bring up a discussion of a more personal nature with their leader. Indeed, the cold was sapping her strength steadily. She shifted her ski poles up with her boards and shifted them to the other shoulder. Holding the bundle with two hands now, she let herself fall into stubborn 'carrying-on' strides; pulling her legs through the snow beside her senpai.

"Shall I take your gear?"

"No, that will not be necessary."

"Alright."

"But thank you," she added quickly. Looking up at him, she saw a smile ghost over his lips in the dim lighting.

The wind picked up and started to blow more snow along the already-hidden path. Snowflakes like tiny razor blades breezed by them sideways and Naoto hitched her shoulders higher; ducked her head lower into her jacket.

The junior detective wondered idly if she should be worried. Hypothermia could be a possible and real consequence of getting lost in a snowstorm, if this was what the weather was trying to shape up towards. In addition, being lost in an unknown snowy hillside brought its own dangers.

Nevertheless, they could not possibly be very far from other human beings. Even if they had taken a wrong turn, all they would need was to turn back tomorrow and go back the path they had taken. At this time, being worried was a waste of energy, so she refused to give in to that.

"Naoto, do you see that over there?"

"See what, senpai?"

Yu pointed in front of them, through the trees. "There, that darker blob? That looks out of place. Another hut, maybe?"

Naoto peered through the fading light. "Conceivably? If nothing else, it could be a hill with some wind shade. Let us go there."

He nodded and they changed direction slightly to head towards the darker area contrasting against the snowy woods.

Still trying to huddle into her clothing while stubbornly moving forward, Naoto let her thoughts run into nothingness.

Until her senpai spoke up. "Kanji looked really out of it, earlier," Yu tried again.

"As Rise-san had explicated, he was merely not-"

"Naoto." His calm voice stopped her short. "We both know Kanji likes a sulk now and again. But we also both know how resilient and direct he normally is. He would not have left or looked so unsettled if he hadn’t been sent away from something that worried him."

Naoto pressed her lips together and nodded ahead. "You were right. It appears to indeed be a ski hut. However, it is darkened. I am not sure if there is anyone here presently."

Picking up the pace, she tried to stay ahead of him and ahead of the uneasy topic he had tried to start up yet again. Thus, she reached the hut first. Resting her gear beside the closed door, she knocked. "Pardon us! Is there anyone here?"

She repeated her knocking a few times until Yu gently moved beside her and turned the door handle. "It's open. Hm.” He gave the door a decisive push and called out, “Excuse us! We're coming in!"

She watched, slightly alarmed, as he ducked into the entrance and knocked snow off his boots. They had no way of knowing who might be living here. Or hiding out here. But she did not have her revolver on her, and staying out in the cold only out her at risk. Besides. Snow was now blowing into the hut. Gathering up her skies, she followed.

"Man, it is _dark_ in here... Stay close, Naoto, I think there is an open space up ahead."

She nodded mutely, pinching her eyes shut tightly for a moment to adjust to the darkness swifter. When she opened her them again, the dim light was no better, but she felt like she would not stumble into things any longer.

Yu walked into the back of the small hut and stopped short. "Not even a kitchen back here. This is more a shed than a hut."

"We do have a sunken hearth here, senpai," Naoto said, peering at the floor. "We could use my phone as a light source to look for fuel."

"Actually, do you have reception here?"

She flipped her phone open and shook her head. "No, none."

"In that case, turn your phone off and conserve energy. When we leave tomorrow, we may still need to call for help and by then we might reach-"

"-an area with acceptable mobile phone reception. Very clever, Yu-senpai." She turned her phone off. "Just as I would expect of you. The situation is dire and still you have your wits about you."

He chuckled at her compliment and polished grime off a window to peer outside. "Oh, there is wood stacked alongside the wall. Let me grab some. See if you can find some tinder or something to start a fire with!"

While he went back outside, Naoto rooted through the confined space inside. She found some old newspapers after some scouting about. The blunette peered at the yellowing pages and hoped she was not destroying someone's valuable historic records. That thought changes, however, as, while she was turning the paper into tight balls, she felt her numb hands and knew they needed to get a fire going.

Yu returned shortly after with an armful of slender bits of chopped wood. "Oh, good, you found paper!"

"Yes, and I carry a watertight box container with matches. One should never leave on any excursions without some provisions. I also have some protein bars on me."

"Breakfast is secured," he grinned and helped her stack up paper and wood. She corrected his work a few times, pointed out the wood needed better airflow to catch fire; adjusted the paper just so, and finally lit up.

Yu leaned back on his hands and sighed, watching the fire. "Man. I feel like such a weight has been lifted."

"Quite. The chances of our death by hypothermia just shrank a considerable amount," Naoto quipped with a small smile, staring into the fire.

She glanced sideways at the grey-haired boy.

Yu seemed to try to relax. While they were still lost and possibly would need to spend the night out here, alone, by themselves, he still carried an aura of control with him.

Naoto admired that about him.

He seemed not so different from when he issued orders in the TV world, really, where he would keep an eye on all the shadows around him, confer with Rise and selected who would fight what and how. Playing to each member's strengths and weaknesses - she credited him with their ability to make it back out of the TV each and every time.

"I hope the others aren't too worried," he said softly, frowning at the pit.

"Do you believe they would show undue excitement at the situation?"

"Well, you know how Rise gets when I am not within earshot."

"Ah. Yes, indeed."

Naoto did not wish to think about Rise. Or inch too close to the topic she had been discussing with the idol.

If anything, this was her chance to 'make a move' in their leader.

"I feel quite flushed at this point," she admitted, glancing at her senpai.

"Warming up?"

"No... That is not the source of this... of my..." She laughed softly and scooted closer to him. "This is what the suspension bridge effect must feel like."

He looked puzzled. "The what?"

"The Suspension Bridge Effect. It is a phenomenon in which perceived danger triggers a sudden, strong response of emotional closeness..." Again, she glanced up at him.

Yu laughed aloud and nodded. "Oh man, I had that happen once, with Chie, as we tried to get Yukiko back and Yosuke dropped. She screamed his name and rushed to him with one of these beads we found in a chest along the way. As she offered his hand to pull him to his feed, they kinda just stopped, both holding to each other's hand a _really_ long time. Nearly got awkward but Chie got Yosuke back on his feet and I saw her look at him and shake it off, finally. I think it was just a fluke." He looked puzzled, as if considering something else. "Well. Maybe."

She turned to look at the fire. "It does not always have to be a false emotional response..."

"Naoto, I am sure it is in this case."

Naoto shot up, sitting straight as a rod. “What?" Her head whipped to him, only to be greeted by a gentle smile.

"I am saying that I know you are not in love with me."

"And... and what if I said I was?" she asked, feeling embarrassed for her quiet, petulant sounding voice. Gathering up courage, she snuggled up against his arm, her hands holding on to him. Kanji’s hat and her large jacket half hid the blush she erupted into. The girl was unsure if her senpai would even see her face like this.

Yu, however, only chuckled softy. "Then I would need to call you a liar. And a poor one." She tried to protest, but he simply turned his smile back to the fire pit. He tried to lean forward, laughing, as he pretty much had to pull her along. "You’ve spent too much time with Rise, Naoto!"

"You may well at least consider that I am saying the truth and indeed have an interest-"

"I saw you and Kanji last night," he said, gently placing his hand over hers.

Their eyes met, and for the fraction of a second, she smelled leather and sandalwood and the acidic undertones of fresh silk dyes. Kanji's scent. She blinked, replacing the mental image of the young tailor with that of her senpai and tried to pull away from him.

Yu did not let her, this time pulling her close as his arm went around her shoulder and he hugged her. He said nothing, simply waiting for her, and turned to smile back into the fire.

Naoto’s mind was ablaze. He had ‘seen them’? What did this even mean? Of course, he would have seen them - they all had dinner together! Alternatively, did he mean before then, on the hill? That, too, was no surprise. After all, they all has been on the same slopes.

The hug and the knowing smile bothered her. "Kanji... Kanji-kun is purely infatuated with me; he will lose interest in time. He is… you know, and... and not... he is not as _dependable_ as you are. He will find a new fancy."

"No," Yu said softly. "He’s not changed his behaviour around you since he _first_ _met you_. And he's slipped deeper and deeper into these feelings since"

"Prove it." Naoto knew she was being childish at this point, but here had been her romantic chance to work herself out of a crush and possibly wind her way in with their senpai. Yet somehow she was blowing it.

Resting his cheek on her head, her senpai sighed softly. "You sure you want this? You've been pushing the topic away so hard; you may not like to hear what I have to say."

"Oh, so now you show hesitation?" She knew it sounded sulky. She did not care right then. He was utterly wrecking the mood.

"Well, you asked for it. Let's see." He hummed. "There was early summer, when I believe you and he first met. Right outside of Tatsumi-ya. I am not sure you noticed, but he was totally flustered by you."

"Not flustered. He was merely startled, senpai. For all he knew, I was working for the police, trying to pin some crime or another on him."

"That's not how he behaved, though. When you walked away, he was still blushing and he was befuddled for the rest of the afternoon, I'm sure. We watched it all from-"  
"-the other side of the road, yes. I had seen you; however, you did not matter to my investigation at the time. As such, I ignored your presence." She shifted a very flat stare at the boy.

Yu chuckled and eased out of their hug, adding more fuel to their fire. "Well, we did not have the expert training of a master detective to our advantage at the time, Naoto. You needed to hone us still."

She pulled him closer again once he leaned back. "Still. A fluke. I am not sure what you think you saw, but it wasn't as you thought."

"Okay. The very next day, Yosuke watched Kanji before you guys met up. He was nervous as all else, messing with his hair in the bathroom and swearing up a storm."

"Still, I stand by my assessment. He was hesitant of possibly encountering a police trap."

The grey-haired boy sighed deeply, looking at his friend with a cocked eyebrow. "You are trying to be dumb, Naoto. And you do not well at playing dumb. As observant and clever as you are, you must have noticed him blushing and being jumpy."

"All behaviour that coincides with being nervous."

"Or having a huge crush. Just look at what happened after. Every time he sees you, he freezes up and avoids looking at you. You might not have seen it during the school outing, but he was-"

"-merely not knowing what to-"

"- _he was_ behaving the exact same way," Yu continued over her protest, "and by then, there would not have been any reason for him to be scared of you in any official function, right?"

After a moment’s hesitation, she nodded against his arm. There was, truthfully, no reason for Kanji Tatsumi to be apprehensive of her to start with. She had not introduced herself as working with the Inaba police at the time. She had simply approached him and asked him for some of his time.

Her eyes glazed over as he kept listing moments. During the school trip. When she confronted them before she tried to trap the murderer herself. When they found her, and Yu and Yosuke had to call Kanji back from rushing to get her. When he tried to insist on carrying her home. Small and large moments came up, and her senpai would not let her get a word in as he listed each moment.

"What about the outburst before the culture festival. You must remember that. You'll also remember how you failed to try and detail him. He was-"

"Thank you, yes; I can picture the moment clearly." She shook her head and pinched her eyes shut, unable to not see his passionate plea for her to appear at that ridiculous stage event. "Senpai, I know that there is a certain... a... an _interest_." She held up her hand as he tried to cut in and continued, "I realise I may appear oblivious to it, but his interest has been noted before and I am consistently reminded of it. That is not the issue here." She pulled her hand back, snuggling closer to him. "Maybe, however, it is not something I wish to have. Can my own interest in ... someone else, perhaps, not be considered as well?"

"Someone else? ...you're joking. Naoto, yesterday night-"

"Please, Yu-senpai!" Naoto sat up, looking at him pleadingly. "Don't force me to say it. Don't make me have to put it into words when I have been... here..."

He blinked at her flushed face, considered how close she sat to him, and his eyes widened. "Naoto. You _cannot_ be serious..."

"Why not?! Why would it be so hard to believe or atypical of me? Senpai, many of the young women around you feel a deep attraction to you. You are charismatic, you are an academic leader in our school, you are kind helpful-"

"Right, right," he laughed, putting his hands up in embarrassment, "but why does that have anything to do with you? Or with Kanji, for that matter?"

Naoto had not noticed that she had started to breathe hard; getting herself worked up in anger as she had listed her leader’s qualities. "I... What it has to do with me? Would you not agree that, logically, you and I myself would make a much better match? Your intellect and mine are of the same excellence; your leadership and your calm guidance is always helpful to my own thought process; you... you do like me, correct?"

The boy sat up straight and frowned at her. "Of course I like you, Naoto. Spending time with you is dear to me. After all, _I_ came to _you_ earlier today."

"Then why-?"

"Because, as I mentioned before, I see Kanji react to you. I know he would hate us both if he never even had a shot at you. And, before you say anything, I do have eyes, I also see you and how you behave around him. I see you stealing glances. I see you stumble over your own words. I see you blush at his words. If nothing else, Naoto... you are interested in what he has to offer. And possibly you have a bit of a crush on our resident tailor-in-training."

She did not reply to this, simply snuggling up to him, lost in thought. "Your mind is too sharp for my own good," she finally said. His questioning hum was the only reply she got.

Naoto untangled her arms from her friend and pulled her arms around her legs as she rested her chin to her knee. Some lingering moisture made the wood pop infrequently now, as the flames had grown hotter. She saw Yu lean forward and add some more fuel into the heart. Glancing sideways, she saw him shift himself to be cross-legged; his elbows resting on his knees as he leaned forward a little to watch her. She turned her head back to gaze before them.

Kanji. It always came back to him.

To make matters worse for her, and she reached up to tuck her snow hat lower, the bo9y beside her was right. This was not about him. It was about her. And her attempt to flee what she saw headed towards her.

"You are not mistaken, senpai. I... I have felt a certain lingering interest myself. Something is there. Something distracting and confusing and… and frightening. I do not know _what_. I cannot grasp _why_. Additionally, I have no recollection of when _this_ happened.” She shook her head and sighed. “Whichever it is... it does not feel like the correct course of action. He ... he is... so unlike me, senpai." Naoto snuggled deeper into her jacket, letting the older boy hug her. "He is rooted in Inaba. I have no roots left worth mentioning. He has a life here. My life is out there. He-"

"-is crazy about you."

"...I will concede that point, certainly."

"And you should experience that. Especially if your own heart is curious about him."

Naoto slipped her hands around her senpai and held on to ´him as if he was her last lifeline to sanity. "How does curiosity translate into something useful?”

“What do you mean by useful?”

“I think…” The girl trailed off and frowned. “What if I lead him on? Juvenile infatuation is all well and good, but what if I am called away for a case? What if I change schools again? What if I pursue a life that will not let me lead the quiet life of a good homemaker and... and..." She tailed off unhappily.

"Now that is very much unlike the Detective Prince." He grunted with a small laugh as she boxed him in the side for sing that abominable nickname. "Seriously, Naoto, have you also considered the colour of your wedding dress and the day to become Naoto Tatsumi?"

"Do not be absurd, that would be way too hasty!"

"So are your fears.” He hugged her once more, then gently pushed her away at arm’s length. “Don't worry what might be in a year or in five or in ten."

"That is not considering all that would be influenced by this. In addition, the near future is something to keep in mind as well! What about next month?"

"That is still four weeks away." He chuckled at her frustrated sigh. "I mean it, Naoto. You should first worry if you want to try this. You feel something. Do you _now_ want to find out if you enjoy being with him? Not in a week. Not in a year. Today. Maybe tomorrow. But not even next week. We're young; we can allow ourselves some 'short-sightedness' still."

She watched the flames and took refuge in silence once more.

Since Yu had started to list Kanji’s reactions around her, she could not shake certain key moments of the last six months; pondered how he behaved around her. From small gestures when sharing his bento with her, to putting his life on the line to protect her in the TV world – he was at her side. That she had developed to feel for him and crave him near should not be a surprise after all he had done for her.

"I do not know what to say. Or what to do."

"This isn't something I can really help you with. You'll need to find out these things for yourself. I'm not the one crushing on Kanji. And Kanji isn't crushing on _me_. My own personality and my own take on things cannot work because I am not involved."

"That is sound, unquestionably."

Yu observed her a moment and tried an encouraging smile. "You'll find a way, Naoto. You always find solutions to puzzles. This is just another puzzle."

“I just wish this one would not be so elusive. I would much prefer having a set of rules and guidelines to follow such things. A means of knowing what my life needs and where to go from here.”

“You won’t get those, sorry. Just as nobody will give us a manual for friendships in general.”

She sighed and stared into the fire, listening to the wind sharply howling outside. It almost sounded like voices calling out, if she allowed her mind to wander. “We should possibly try to find some rest, so we can leave as soon as we get daylight in the morning.”

“It’s not really that late, I think. Just dark and cold.”

The girl nodded with an affirmative sound. “At the risk of sounding like I have an ulterior motive, senpai, we could open our jackets and use them as blankets while we … ah…”

“Snuggle up?” He laughed at her blush. “Let’s first keep the fire going and see if we can make ourselves comfortable in some other way. Do you feel warmer yet?”

“Yes, my fingers hurt for a short while as they warmed, but I am feeling much better.” She stood, looking around. “Maybe we can find some kind of blanket, or at least a tarp to trap additional warmth as we sleep. Once the fire dies down and we no longer…” She tailed off and turned to look towards the door.

“That wind really sounds like someone shouting outside,” the boy commented as he got to his feet. “Let’s see what we can find.”

Naoto nodded and turned away from the door again. “Yes, senpai.”

It was perhaps a minute of them checking through discarded boxes and small stacks of random refuse; when both lifted their heads as the crying of the wind turned into actual calls from the outside.

“Yu-kun? Naoto-kun!"

“Hey, you two! Where are you? Oh man, I will kick your butt if I get my hands on you, Narukami!”

"Senpai? Naoto-kun?"

They turned to one another with a smile, picking out the other girls calling out to them, searching. It was the girl who spoke up first. “I would appear that Rise-san is quite distressed. We should go and meet them.”

A fourth voice rose over the steady wind, louder, carrying a hint of a threat against anyone in his way. "YO! NAOTO! ANSWER, DAMN YOU!"

"Dunno, Naoto,” Yu said with a smile, “I'd say Kanji sounds the most worried. We should put their minds at ease."

"Of course, senpai. However, senpai?” She let him offer his hand and pull her to her feet from where she crouched. “I would thank you for your discretion in… in this, this… this _matter_?"

"I won't say a word. This is your case, Detective Shirogane-san."

"T-Thank you."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am sorry if this may feel like a filler chapter, but this IS the ski trip and I simply wanted this, because in DF, that whole bit is slated to look VERY different, hah. 
> 
> Also, sorry for not having posted in this very long. The next upcoming chapter in Distance Formula is one I have looked forward to writing for nearly two years now... but I am terrified of it, because my Kanji-game isn't as strong as I'd like it to be. The result is, that I psyched myself out so hard that I have been all but unable to write ANYTHING. This chapter, fluff and possible filler as it was, helped me get back in the game, so be kind to it. ^^;


	8. Safe and sound and hungry.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally! The chapter I have been looking forward to writing since I started WYCM? - especially since KrisRix did this wonderful commission piece for me last year. [Dinner Time by KrisRix.](http://krisrix.tumblr.com/post/150283866332/commission-for-wishstonedragon-as-a-tie-in)

_Naoto clung to the railing and looked around, panicked. The sea was roiling; she could not even feel her feet connected to the deck at all any longer. All that seemed to hold her somewhat upright were her arms, tightly flung around the broad, sturdy railing, keeping her from falling. She knew - if she let go, she would fell - and with her legs without any feeling at all, who knew what would happen._

_Beneath her, the deck shudders, as if in response to her holding on tighter and the frightened girl clung on for dear life. “Gods, don’t let me fall’, she whimpered, feeling the wind whip cold air into her face._

_And then something moved her arms. As she took a shuddering, frightened breath, she smelled that deep scent of sandalwood and acidic dyes that always made her think of Kanji Tatsumi without fail. She felt her arms shift around a thicker support and one hand clasping over her arms. “Yer ain’t gonna fall, I got ya”, he said, and she relaxed slightly._

“Aw, she looks so tired! Senpai, what did you do to her?”

It was Rise-san’s pouty squeak that woke her immediately; sadly enabling her to fully hear the following lewd snicker by Hanamura.

As Naoto blinked to get her bearings, she felt herself shift as Kanji skipped a step to re-settle her on his back. With a small groan, she let her head fall against his shoulder. She was being _carried_. Kanji had her on his back, holding her crossed arms to his chest and having looped one arm around under her bottom. At once, she shifted her arms and legs around so she could try to cling to him on her own. He glanced at her over his shoulder and moved his arm to loop it into and around one of her clinging legs. “Yer comfy?”

“Y-Yes, thank you, Tatsumi-kun. If you rather I walk-“

“No way, man.” A gloved hand patted her arms. “I got ya. Heh, you were so exhausted, ya could barely walk. This works, yeah?” She simply nodded against his back.

Due to their exchange, they had missed the chat of their teammates. The cobalt-haired girl re-joined the conversation when she saw the two snowboarders having one of their all-too-common tiffs.

“You are such a _perv_ , Yosuke,” Chie chided him, “I am sure Naoto is simply sleepy because she is relieved we found them.” The girl turned and smiled at her, rubbing her neck. “I’m super-glad we got to you before nightfall. I hate to think of you and Yu having to sleep on the cold, hard floor by yourselves.”

“Yes… me, too,” Rise added in a soft, strange tone of voice. Naoto lifted her head to regard her in confusion, but the idol had already flipped her happy-switch back on. “Yeah, I am happy we found you. I mean, Kanji was losing his mind.”

“Y-You shut it!” Naoto felt his hands grasp her arms and leg a little tighter. “You were just as worried, damnit.”

With the sounds of the familiar teasing and laughter of her friends around her, and with Kanji’s kind offer to carry her, Naoto allowed herself to drift off. Relief over the stressful and possibly dangerous situation before being resolved caught up with her quickly, and she allowed herself to just hold on and let the steady steps lull her to sleep.

 

* * *

 

“Hey… Naoto? We’re back.”

Starting, nearly losing her hold, the junior Shirogane awoke. “Wh-?”

“Woha, easy. Heh. We’re back at the hut. Ya feelin’ better?”

“Ka- Tatsumi-kun! You… you carried me all the way…” She shifted, trying to untangle her arms and legs, finding that he held both sets of limbs in a close tangle to his body.

“Heh, well, yeah, said I would…” He chuckled softly, and she more felt it then heard it. “Wasn’t far, anyhow.”

She shifted, trying to slip off his back, but in response the arms holding her tightened up. Naoto simply looked around, watching her friends file into the large main room with a hum.

"I don't know about anyone else, but I am _starving_ ," Yu admitted as the group stepped into their cottage. "Can we expect you to spoil us some more, Kanji?"

The tall blonde grumbled and knelt, allowing Naoto to slide off his back. "Only if there's nothin’ else, senpai. I mean, I like you guys, but I wanna have a break, too."

"Indeed," Naoto added as she pulled the hat from her head and ruffled her hair, "it would be undue of us to call on Tatsumi-kun to cook for us every night of our outing."

"Thanks," he murmured over his shoulder with a smile as he stood back up.

The girl felt her eyes widen as he smiled at her and turned away sharply. Thankfully her female senpai had offered her a new focus.

Chie pumped her fist. "Yuki and I have been practicing our cooking, you know, and I think we can easily put together a curry-"

"No." Oddly, it was Rise who had put up both of her hands to stop them.

"What? We'd let you help, I mean, I didn't wanna say _just_ Yukiko and-"

Rise shook her head, making the sporty girl trail off. "You guys make yours boring and weak.” The girls ignored a hesitant hum from Yosuke. “Curry needs to be hot enough to melt your earwax!" She pumped both her fists in excitement.

Now the team ninja made a hacking sound, then _oomph_ ed after Yu elbowed him hard with a smile at the girls.

Naoto had to hide her smile in her large ski jacket as she tucked off her gloves. The dangers of letting any of her fellow females near the kitchen were a frequently discussed topic with the group. She was unsure how deserved the critique was, but she would keep her counsel to herself until she would learn more on the mater one day.

As she was about to turn and hang her coat away, she found Kanji had already removed most of his winter gear and stood by her side like an attentive butler, waiting to take her wet clothing. She handed him her hat and gloves with a small smile.

"Also," the idol excitedly continued, "we're out here to have fun! I say we should order something! Maybe something that's foreign cooking, even!"

"Oh, I think there was a place called _International Cafe_ somewhere in the city," Teddy said, bouncing into the room while chewing on a cookie. Naoto was amazed at the amount of junk food the boy-shadow could hide away and consume at any given situation. "I mentioned it to Yosuke and he explained it was a restaurant with many strange and new foods!"

Yosuke seemed eager to jump on that idea. "Oh, hey, yeah, I remember that! Let's check if they have an online menu!"

Naoto was shrugging out of her jacket and felt it glide back over her arms slowly. Glancing over her shoulder, she smiled at Kanji as he had taken the back of her thick ski gear and pulled on it gently. "Thank you, Tatsumi-kun," she said delicately, not wanting to interrupt the others.

He gave her his best smile, adding, "I’ll hang this stuff up so it can dry." His smile slowly vanished as he watched her shiver gently. "Yer look frozen stiff, Naoto. D'ya still have my pullover?"

"Well... yes, but-"

"Go grab it! Geez, you’ll get sick if yer not gonna look after yerself." He made a shooshing gesture at her and Naoto, much to her own surprise, found herself walking away towards her room.

In the girl’s room, she picked up his large sweatshirt from her pillow and slipped into it. Casting a guilty glance over her shoulder, she pulled the neck of the garment up and inhaled deeply. It still smelled of him. It still made her heart skip a beat. And it made her incredibly sad.

As much as she would love to explore spending more time with him, she also understood that what she had told Rise earlier that day was the only right thing in their situation. She would only lead the boy on if she tried to pursue her feelings. One more year would have her prepare to leave for university, and, from there, into her pre-destined life as a Shirogane. In service of the truth, hunting the information that her opposition would try to hide from her.

Kanji Tatsumi would only end up hurt, if she now gave in.

She knew he would try to wait for her, being lonesome, miserable with the knowledge she was out in their world and not by his side. And nothing in any of her future plans had ever included not being who she was raised to be. No matter how… how warm she felt near him.

The girl sighed and turned to re-join the team in the living room.

When she returned, Rise skipped to her side and handed her a pen, paper and Yosuke's phone. "Hey, so they take orders, just pick what ya like, we're gonna put money together and order from here. Yu is going to take the money and pay for everyone."

"Oh, thank you. Let's see what they have to offer..."

The restaurant wisely had a limited menu. One, sometimes two dishes from a few different European nations were offered, most of which Naoto knew of at the very least. Her smile grew as she spotted a dish that invoked memories of a trip she had taken to Europe with her Grandfather some four years ago.

Noting own the item, she reached for her wallet and turned to her senpai – who stopped her, his hands raised defensively. "Sorry, Naoto, but I can't take your money."

"Do not be silly, senpai, I can easily pay for my own food," she said with a small, hopeful flush. A part of her still would like for Yu to consider her offer, if only because she felt he would be the only one who could break her away from the attraction to the younger boy.

"Well, sure, you could. But someone had already paid for you." He lowered his voice and smiled. "And I am sure he would be disappointed if you refused his dinner invitation."

Trying to form words, she finally settled on a very quiet, "Wh-Who?"

" _Him_ , Naoto. And I suggest you sit with him and thank him. Might be a bit of a double-date, but I say it counts."

" _Quadruple_ -date, senpai," she murmured, the flush growing into a blush all the way up to her ears as she turned to look for the tall blonde boy.

Kanji stood, his back stiff as a rod, not looking at her or even into her general direction, clearly expecting her gaze and avoiding it. She shook her head softly. "I still think this may be a very bad idea, senpai..."

"What would be, Naoto?"

She turned with a start. The boy who answered her was not Yu Narukami, but his best friend. An easy smile on his lips, he leaned forward into her personal bubble. "Did you order something too spicy? I heard soy milk helps with that."

Leaning back at an even measure, she shook her head. "N-No, that is not- I mean-... No, sorry, Yosuke-senpai, I was thinking of a different topic entirely."

"O-ho? And what would that be?"

"Hanamura, I swear, if you're not gonna lay off Naoto for at least five minutes-! Let her warm up, let her get some food, _then_ consider if you want to pester her again!" Tugging him by the arm and slapping it for good measure, Chie dragged him to the couches and all but threw him into the cushions.

Naoto sighed and ran her hands over her arms. Well, technically, she ran her hands over the roughly knitted woollen pullover. Her gaze was drawn back to the boy who had surrendered it to her. A small smile plucked at her lips as she saw Teddy trying to playfully wrestle with him. The boys laughed and roughhoused and she... just took them in.

Certainly, with sheer power and use of his long limbs, Kanji Tatsumi could have simply overpowered the boy-shadow easily. Yet he did not. He playfully held him at bay, teased and taunted, enjoying himself by simply having a small tussle.

As she looked on, Rise slipped beside her and leaned on her gently. Naoto gazed to her side and saw the idol simply smiling at her, catching her hand between them to give hit a squeeze. "I'm glad you guys were okay. I really was worried for you both, you know."

"I would not have thought the contrary, Rise-san, I realise when our senpai are teasing. And your fondness of Yu-senpai is an often exploited motif in such moments."

"Yeah," the brunette sighed blissfully, snuggling closer into the cobalt-haired girl. "It's weird, but I actually thought you would take the chance to make a move on him," she added softly. "But, I worry that with every girl, you know? He's just so perfect."

"He is quite striking, yes," Naoto mumbled absent-mindedly, her eyes glued to Kanji as he laughed loudly, holding a struggling Teddy in a leg-lock. The pause that stretched on would have been something she would comment on, if her mind hadn't been pulled back to the team bruiser again.

Naoto snapped out of her observations, when Rise laughed and tackled her into a hug. "You are just too cute, Naoto!"

The boys stopped and everyone turned to look at the girls in a tightly-locked embrace - one of the parties being not overly enthusiastic about the situation.

"R-R-Rise-san! Pl-Please!" Naoto wriggled free and made to reach for her absent hat. In lieu of _that_ escape, she turned about sharply and vanished into the kitchen. "Too cute!" the shout repeated behind her.

Pouring herself a glass of water, Naoto drank. Bad enough Rise kept taunting her over her... interest. But pulling the attention of the group and Kanji himself on the matter was really uncalled for.

"Hey, Nao-chan! Kanji said I should check on you, is everything okay?"

"T-Teddy-kun..." She turned, giving the 'natural' blonde of the team a small smile. "Yes, thank you, I am quite well. Just... just thirsty."

"Oh, can I have a drink, too?"

"Of course." She turned to refill her glass and offered it to Teddy.

He looked at the glass with big eyes, then shook his head at her. "I'd love to, but I could get in trouble with Rise. She told me that I'm not allowed to try and score with you." Before she could ask what a glass of water had to do with _that_ of all things, he dodged around her and grabbed his own drink.

"What... what exactly has Rise-san told you, Teddy-kun?" She stared at her glass, uneasily handling it. The boy shadow held up a finger as he slowly drained his water, so she sipped from her own glass as well.

"She said," he gasped the moment he pulled the glass from his lips, "that she would have Chie-chan galactic-punt me if I tried to score with you again. She said you are too sophisticated and I couldn't make you happy. Though I would really, _really_ try, you know?"

Naoto sighed, dodging the proverbial sparkle-attack. "Nothing more specific?"

"No? Why? Do you know why she would have wanted me to stay away from you?"

"Duh, because I want her for myself, big dummy!"

The junior Shirogane jumped and turned to see Rise give Teddy a playful shove.

"Unfair," he whined, "hotties are not allowed to do that; that is unfair competition!"

"Oh, dear Teddy, but it happens all the time, especially with the hotties." Rise hugged him, winking at Naoto. She giggled lightly at the flustered expression on her face. "Help me set the table, Ted?"

Distracted by her friend, Teddy threw himself into the task of being loaded up with both western cutlery and chopsticks.

Naoto used this chance and slipped from the kitchen to go soak up some warmth in front of the fireplace. She realised that since she had arrived back, she had fled from one situation into the next, trying to avoid thinking about her own personal dilemma. Of course, between her one true female friend, and the object of her current fixation, it felt like she was also trying to escape her own self.

Her female senpai both already sat by the fire, huddled under a very large blanket. "Yo, Naoto-kun! Come over here, you must be as frozen as we are!"

She smiled at her sporty senpai and sat near them. "Thank you, Chie-senpai. Yukuki-senpai."

"Would you like to be under the blanket, Naoto-kun?" The black-haired Amagi heiress smiled in a way that warmed her just as much as the fire itself did. "You guys were lost for nearly three hours."

"Only?" Naoto mused, nodding as she sat close enough to have her senpai drape the blanket over her shoulder. "It felt longer. Conjecture would be that it does get dark very early around here, at least when compared to Inaba."

"I'm just glad it all went well. What happened, anyhow?" Both her senpai turned to watch her, curious about what lead to their latest unplanned adventure.

"We wanted to take one of the trails and just walk, talking, but it grew dark much quicker than either of us anticipated. By the time the snowfall started to pick up, we had already lost our way and were lost. Without visible landmarks, we just randomly tried to find or way back."

"Geez. You two literally walked in circles. Man, I have no idea what I would have done in your shoes though. It was pretty quick thinking to use that shed." Chie flashed her a large smile.

The younger girl simply ducked her head and enjoyed the warmth. Behind them, Rise and Teddy were setting the table as Yu and Yosuke left to go pick up their food. She turned to glance towards the couches and saw Kanji flopped into the cushions, head lolled back, eyes closed, breathing deeply as if asleep.

Yukiko started to chuckle beside her.

"Oh no... Yuki, no..."

As Naoto turned back, she saw her elegant senpai trying hard to hide her soft laugher by hiding her face in her hands. Beside her, her friend attempted to help by cuddling her and petting her back.

"I-I’m sorry, Chie.... but Kanji is so... _hahaha_ , so sleepy, look at him!"

"Well, yeah, I think he ran most of the ski hills himself while we were out looking." She gave the blushing Naoto a small smile. "He was really, really worried. He must be terribly exhausted." Then she poked her friend in the ribs. "That's _not_ funny though, Yukiko!"

 _Seriously_ , Naoto thought to herself, trying to hide in the blanket as well, _does everyone know of this? And why does it seem like everyone is in favour of this ridiculous notion of any kind of romantic curiosity between Kanji-kun and myself? Can they not see how utterly preposterous this is?_

While she was lost in her own thoughts, she had failed to notice time passing swiftly and her male senpai returning with their food.

"Sorry it took so long," Yosuke called out as they kicked off their shoes, "we better sit down and eat quick before it gets even colder!"

With the late hour, everyone had started to feel hungry and having quickly distributed the take-away boxes, everyone settled in to eat.

With a smile, she discovered the _Zürich Geschnetzeltes_ she had ordered to come with broad egg noodles - it gave the dish a slightly exotic feel. She dipped her fork into the rich, creamy sauce and gave the dish a taste. Peppery, not too salty - it felt perfect, even if her senpai had been correct, it was going to grow cold before long if she did not hurry up.

"We have a microwave in the kitchen, if you want to heat up some of your food," Rise called as she picked up her large container. "I'll go nuke mine for a bit; pretty sure that cold _borscht_ isn't all that good."

Everyone else agreed and Kanji stood, holding his hand out to Naoto. "Gimme yours, I'll throw it in for ya."

She nodded, passed her box over to him and settled back down. Rise and Yukiko also remained, as Yu and Chie, respectively, had taken their containers and walked into the kitchen.

"I am quite ravenous by now," Naoto admitted.

"Same here," Rise sighed, "no more getting lost and making everyone track through the cold, you hear?"

"It was not precisely a planned event, Rise-san," the blunette mumbled.

"She is joking, Naoto-kun," her senpai added, smiling as Chie returned with their food.

"Well, yes, but still..."

Rise, seemingly wanting to distract, started to chat about their food, asking if they had eaten what they had ordered before. Chie admitted she had only ordered the _Bavarian butcher’s platter_ , because it looked as if it had lots of different meats. It appeared that Yukiko and Rise had never had their ordered foods before, but Rise said she thought a red soup looked interesting and Yukiko said she always enjoyed salmon.

Kanji returned, seated himself across from her, and placed her food, now transferred to a plate, in front of her. "Let me know if it's not hot enough, but the sauce started ta bubble and stuff," he said with a sheepish grin while assembling his hamburger. It appeared he hand only microwaved the meat and now juggled with two forks to rebuild the hot sandwich.

Yosuke looked up from his Spanish rice dish, picking at a shrimp and eyed Kanji's food. "Really, Kanji? Hamburg-steak? That's for little kids, don't you know?"

The boy stopped and narrowed his eyes at his plate; then turned and glowered at their senpai, all but crushing the hamburger in his hands. “Yer so funny again, Yosuke-senpai,” he growled.

Chie poked the blonde's side. “Just ignore him. I’ve been doing that for two years now.”

“Oh yeah? Then how come my phone says you call me as much as I call you?” His grin was far too smug.

Rise, who had been trying the Spaghetti Yu-senpai ate, lit up. “Oh, _really_ , senpai? Are you two finally-“

“Not gonna _GO_ there,” Satonaka snarled.

Around them, general laughter and teasing took over, but all Naoto could see was Kanji sitting across from her. His glower had changed into a small frown and he stared at his food.

She knew why, of course. Under the image of the tough ruffian, which he had taken such pains to cultivate, was a very delicate, kind young man. It really was a greater part of her problem. That kindness, that welcoming nature, it was what drew her in. Where she saw the world as a place of conflict, which she could not allow an inch of relaxation in - there was Kanji Tatsumi, offering that place she craved.

She shook her head and added to the conversation, "I do not see the problem. Hamburg steaks and hamburgers are a popular food with any age group, Yosuke-senpai."

"Aw, the prince comes to the rescue of-OMPPH!"

With a warm smile, Yu had boxed his best friend sharply in the side. "You are, of course, correct, Naoto. And I am sure my food is considered kids food, too." He gestured to his own plate, which h appeared to be a serving of _spaghetti carbonara_.

She still frowned and gazed back at the table in front of her, unseeing, as she was twirling up some noodles using a fork and spoon.

“Yo, Naoto… are you okay?”

The girl lifted her gaze from the table. “Pardon?”

“Heh, yer starin’ at my food. You… you said ya like Hamburg Steak, wanna try some o’ this?”

Nodding, she got up and leaned over the table, opening her mouth. He seemed to hesitate and for a second she worried if he had only offered it to be polite. But then he turned the food he held and offered the sandwich to her. She took a bite, feeling a trickle of condiment at the corner of her mouth and quickly lifted a finger to catch it.

As she sat down, however, she realised her mistake the second she tried to catch the drip of mustard with her finger and tongue.

Rise positively squealed. “That was so cute, you two!”

Having the bite in her mouth, all the Shirogane protégée could do was bristle. Thankfully, Kanji jumped in.

“Shut it, Rise, you’ve been eating everyone’s food but your own so far, an’ I ain’t makin’ no remarks ‘bout that!” He slapped Teddy’s hand away from his French fries again.

Naoto thankfully smiled at Kanji. Deflecting Rise’s remarks back onto her actually started the conversation again. By now, everyone talked about trying each other’s foods and the junior Detective let her gaze sink to her own food. She had ordered it because Zürich in the name of the dish invoked memories she had of being in the Austrian city with her Grampa many years ago. It was nice enough; strips of fried pork and mushroom in a light gravy on a bed of wide egg noodles. She speared some of the food with her fork, and then looked up at Kanji.

He had just passed a fry over to Rise and smirked at a comment from Yu-senpai she had missed. When he turned to look back at her, the smile froze, as if he was surprised she would be looking up at him.

The girl swallowed at a sudden lump in her throat. She nodded to his plate. “Your _Hamburger_ is very tasty. Would you like to try some of my food as well?”

He nodded, as if stunned, before he found his voice. “Ah… ya, sure?”

It was his turn to put his food down and stand to lean over the table now. Naoto smiled, twined the noodle around her fork and dragged some of the sauce and pork on as well. She half-stood, lifting the fork up to him, one hand cupped under a few centimetres below, just in case everything would unravel and make a huge mess. She did not notice how, with a smile, her own lips parted, mimicking his opened mouth as she fed him.

She did, however, become very aware of his lips closing over her fork, dragging the offered food off the tines; aware of his gaze locked onto her; aware of his pleased hum. She watched, mesmerised, as his tongue darted out to catch a droplet of sauce at the corner of his mouth; nearly mirroring her own actions only moments prior.

Her smile froze as the next thing she very much became aware of Yukiko and Chie bursting out in giggles.

She rolled her eyes at their senpai. “What now?” She turned, put the fork in her mouth to free her hands and put her fists on her hips. The giggles only redoubled here.

"Just... just ignore 'em," Kanji mumbled across from her. As she looked up, he hid his face behind one hand, trying to make it seem like he was just rubbing an itch across his nose. "'s not important, yeah?"

She nodded slowly, taking the fork from her lips, finally trying some of her own food.

It was wonderful. As much as she had expected, but still somehow better. Because when she opened her eyes after a pleased moan around her full mouth, her gaze fell on the young apprentice tailor and his smile made everything better, no matter what.

Teddy finally managed to steal a fry from Kanji's plate and turned to Rise, throwing out sparkles at her. "Rise-chan, play the Pocky-game with me?" He balanced the fry between his lips, stretching out his neck towards the girl, eyes closed.

Instead of taking him up on that offer, she cut a piece of his potato pancake with apple sauce and eat it quickly. With her mouth full, she said, "Sorry, Teddy, my manager would kill me if I go around kissing boys."

Naoto turned her head with a soft laugh, gazing towards Kanji to share the mirth. His eyes had been on their friends, then turned towards his plate... and then towards her. He picked up a fry himself, hesitated. Their gazes locked, each reading the mind of the other.  _'Do you want to try this...?' It's just a game, right?_ ' However, just as quickly both teens turned their eyes away from the other, desperate to hide their respective blushes.

The girl sighed softly. She was not looking forward to spending another night under the same roof as this young man – if only because she was feeling he was way too far away while being, indeed, this very close.


End file.
